<i> r»^ o « • ^ *^ 










"-^^0^ 






o 
.x.™x.- .^-™.^. ^x.™.-.'; W I 



■:P 



4 o 
V ^0 ^ ' 









t/i 











\..^* 

Kf b 



.^ 



V^. 




"°.-" 

o. 



V-^"^' 


« 


: ^^ 


■i^ 


^•bip 




<v 


^ 


>s 0^, 




V . x^ 


-^ " .. , 


^ <■ 




>%* , -v 


<?> -;v^ 


- " - 








''•/■>* 


;/, 




?^^\^' 






V. <<; 



G 



0' 



V<^' 







". o. 




^-^ -J 



A <-. 'o . * * G^ ^ 

5> .-'. % ,0^ ""» '^' 



<'j. 'o . », 









A 





,0 





O V 



A' 



■> 



J » 






^'-^^>¥'^V^ 



f o 









>°-nt.. 



,G^ ^ '-'.'.s^ A 



^ 
V 



^ 










'-''', ^^^ 

'f 

'5'^ 

-^^ 



,■> 



'N 



■<f^ 'o . * 



^*^, 



^^-^^^ 



^0 



^. 



««o- ^V 



.^^ 



0(A 



^. 






.G^ \p *v^s* A -^ "" 



kV 



V 




A 












When Knights were Bold 




TRUSTY SENTINELS 



When 
Knights were Bold 



By 



Eva March Tappan 



31Uuj8trateD 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 

Houghton Mifflin Company 

MDCCCCXI 



^A 



A' 



-v 



COPYRIGHT, 191 I, BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

Publiiked October ign 



C:CI.A30*.378 



PREFACE 

This book is in no degree an attempt to relate the involved and 
intricate history of the Middle Ages. Its plan is, rather, to pre- 
sent pictures of the manner of life and habits of thought of the 
people who lived between the eighth and fifteenth centuries. Our 
writings and our everyday conversation are full of their phrases 
and of allusions to their ideas. M any of our thoughts and feelings 
and instincts, of our very follies and superstitions, have descended 
to us from them. To become better acquainted with them is to 
explain ourselves. In selecting from the enormous amount of 
material, I have sought to choose#those customs which were most 
characteristic of the times and which have made the strongest 
impression upon the life of to-day, describing each custom when 
at its height, rather than tracing its development and history. I 
hope that the volume will be found sufficiently full to serve as 
a work of reference, and sufficiently interesting to win its way 
as a book of general reading. 

Eva March Tappan 

Worcester^ Mass. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. PAGE, SQUIRE, AND KNIGHT 

Pages brought up in the castles of friendly knights — their amuse- 
ments — taught to sing, play backgammon and chess, to respect 
the Church, to be " serviceable," obedient, and courteous, to 
choose a "lady-love in chivalry." The page aids his lord in 
battle, learns to ride, to use weapons, to swim, box, and fence, 
\J and also to hunt and to hawk. The squire serves at table, 

shares the amusements of the hall, practices more severe out- 
of-door exercises — the quintain — duties of the " squire of the 
body" — becoming a knight — the accolade essential — cut- 
ting the hair — the bath — bed — change of garments — fast- 
ing — the vigil of arms — arming the young knight — receiving 
the accolade — the blessing of the Church — the rejoicing . i 

CHAPTER II. THE KNIGHT'S ARMS AND ARMOR 

The lance — sword — helmet — crest — chausses — hauberk — 
ring armor and its dangers from battle-axe and hammer — plate 
armor — the dagger of mercy — golden spurs — shield — baldric 
— tabard, or surcoat — coats of arms — names and significance 
of swords — Arabian horses i8 



> 



CHAPTER III. JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS 

The knight errant — the joust at castle and crossroad — the joust 
of peace and " to the extreme " — the proclamation of a tour- 
nament — lo4ging the knights — a merry courtyard — the final 

vii 



Contents 

preparations — the lists — the galleries — what weapons were 
allowed — how honors were counted — entering the lists — 
" Let go ! " — the " Queen of Love and Beauty " — bestow- 
ing the prizes — the ball — teachings of the tournament — the 
duel of justice — the test of endurance, of cold water, of boil- 
ing water, of hot iron — " benefit of clergy " . . . .28 



CHAPTER IV. HOW TO CAPTURE A CASTLE 

Fortifications of earth and of wood — sites of the Castle of Chillon 
and of Chateau Gaillard — outworks — "curtains" — moat — 
drawbridge — portcullis — outer court — middle court — inner 
court — buttresses — battlements — keep — batters — machi- 
colations — postern gate — three methods of attacking a castle 

— Greek fire — the "cat" or "rat" — the bosson — balista 

— mantelet — cannon — trebuchet — mangonel — catapult — 
espringal — the siege of the "Saucy Castle" — its capture — 
the " Peace of God " — the " Truce of God " — the " right of 
sanctuary" — " abjuring the realm " 52 



CHAPTER V. DAILY LIFE IN A CASTLE 

The castle and its court — the hall — beds and bedrooms — their 
furnishings — discomforts — remarkable fashions of dresses and 
headdresses — men's clothes — lack of cleanliness — sumptu- 
ary laws — furnishings of the hall — tapestry — feasting — 
bills of fare — " subtleties " — recipe for serving a swan — 
bread — dishes — trenchers, knives, spoons, and forks — linen 
— filthy floors — music — minstrels — wandering singers — • 
jugglery — jesters — women dancers — home employments — 
the teaching of girls — visitors — " homage " — " above the 
salt" 75 

viii 



Contents 

CHAPTER VI. LIFE ON A MANOR 

Feudal tenure — the vassal — " doing homage " — " money-fiefs " 

— military service — " aids " — " heriot " — " relief " — the 
feudal system a network of lords and vassals — the " liege 
lord" — slaves, villeins, free tenants — manor house — the 
" solar " — the three-field system — " balks " and strips — 
"extents" — u'ork required of the tenants — "boon works" 

— dues — the manor court — the reeve, bailiff^, steward, and 
accountant — economic independence of the manor — hard life 
of the tenants — buying a release from service — entering the 
Church — eff^ect of Crecy, the Black Death, and the Peasants' 
Revolt — the survival of old beliefs and customs . . .102 



CHAPTER VII. PILGRIMAGES AND CRUSADES 

Why people went on pilgrimage — the Canterbury Pilgrims — 
sights at Canterbury — ampullae — Canterbury bells — tokens 
of shrines — scallop shells — the " Pilgrim's Road," — the 
" Palmer's Way " — the Walsingham Green Way — shrines 
on the Continent — sham pilgrims — pilgrimage to the Holy 
Land — aids to the pilgrim — service before starting on pil- 
grimage — the common route to Palestine — dangers of the 
way — palmers — merchant pilgrims — cruelty shown to pil- 
grims — Peter the Hermit — the Council of Clermont — " God 
wills it!" — the first crusade — Jerusalem is captured — other 
crusades — Richard the Lionhearted — the children's crusade 
— changes wrought in Europe by the crusades . . . • 123 

CHAPTER VIII. MILITARY ORDERS, MONKS, AND 
MONASTERIES 

The Order of Hospitallers — the knights as warriors — in Cyprus, 
Rhodes, and Malta — the Order of Templars — their suppres- 

ix 



Contents 

sion — the rule of Saint Benedict becomes lax — the founda- 
tion and customs of Cluny — the "Congregation of Cluny " 

— the Order of Grammont — the Carthusians — the Grande 
Chartreuse — "Charter-houses" — the Chartreuse of to-day 

— the Cistercians — Saint Bernard — plan of the convents — 
the copying of books — the work and care of a convent — the 
different officers — hospitality — struggles between monasteries 

and towns — value of the work of the monasteries . . .149 



CHAPTER IX. HERMITS, FRIARS, AND MISSIONARIES 

The hermit of romance — different kinds of hermits — hermits who 
dwelt by bridges — false hermits — recluses — The Ancren Riwle 
— Saint Francis and " Brother Matteo " — the work of the 
Franciscans — the sermon to the birds — the Poor Ladies — 
the Penitent Men and Women — the Dominicans — excom- 
munication — interdicts — the Waldenses — the Albigenses — 
the Inquisition — the " secular arm " — Saint Patrick — the 
fire on the hill of Slane — Saint Augustine in England — Saint 
Boniface in Germany — the Oak of Thor — martyrdom of 
Saint Boniface — Charlemagne converts the Saxons — Witte- 
kind becomes a missionary — King Olaf forces Christianity 
upon the Norwegians 175 



CHAPTER X. LIFE IN TOWN 

The origin of towns — charters — the founding of Hull — free 
towns — Winchelsea — towns of Italy, Spain, and France — 
peculiar customs of towns — a city — the town as private pro- 
perty — town walls — houses, roofs, and windows — town halls 
— apprenticeship — the journeyman — the master — great mer- 
chants — small tradesmen and their houses — signs — streets — 

X 



Contents 

projecting stories — gardens — instructions for gardening — the 
moat around London — lofty towers — street rioters — the cook- 
shop by the river — peculiar hospitals — giving away food — 
schools — rhetorical contests between the boys — " Paul's pig- 
eons " — "Anthony's pigs" — cock fighting — athletics — slid- 
ing — skating — military practice — bear and bull baiting — 
the Smithfield horse market — pigs forbidden to roam about the 
streets. 206 



CHAPTER XI. MERCHANT GILDS AND CRAFT GILDS 

Gilds for all purposes — objects of the merchant gilds — the 
wealth and independence of these gilds — craft gilds — their 
rules to secure good work — their care of the gildsmen — feast 
days and patron saints — origin of mystery plays — their 
character — Satan as clown — " Hell mouth " — mysteries pass 
into the hands of the gilds — acted on Corpus Christi day — 
pageants — cycles of plays — the plays become a burden — the 
Lord Mayor's procession the last survival of trade plays. 232 



CHAPTER XII. HOW GOODS WERE SOLD 

Sale of goods from the houses of the makers, by pedlars, and at 
markets — customs of the market — the market cross — the 
"Rolands" — the court of pieds-poudres — tolls — shops in 
towns — the right to hold fairs — laws and customs of the fair 

— all classes represented — amusements — prices kept steady 
by fairs — Stourbridge fair — Winchester fair — specialties of 
different fairs — Saint Bartholomew's Fair — Beaucaire — Leip- 
sic — the fair of Nijni-Novgorod — bringing goods from the 
East to Venice — discovery of a new route to India — route 
from southern to northern Europe — "Merchants of the Staple" 

— "staple towns" — wool — " Merchants Adventurers" — the 

xi 



Contents 

Hanseatic League — piracy — the " factories " of the League — 
its power in Scandinavia, Denmark, Russia, the Netherlands — 
the League in England — "sterling" money — the Steelyard 
— English jealousy of the League — value of the League. 247 



CHAPTER XIII. SCHOOLS AND LITERATURE 

Severity of the schools — " the island of saints and scholars " — 
the " ollave " and his honors — the Venerable Bede — Charle- 
magne's care of the schools — the palace school — Alcuin — 
Alfred's interest in education — textbooks — the trivium — the 
quadrivium — how numbers were expressed — the " oblati " — 
the"externes" — the founding of universities — "nations" — 
wandering students — the growth of a heroic poem — Beowulf — 
the N'lhelungenlied — the Cid — romances of Charlemagne — 
"A Roland for an Oliver" — the Song of Roland — Taillefer — 
King Arthur — the Round Table — Galahad — the Holy 
Grail — the Hebnskringla — the Edda and the Younger Edda 
— Frithiof — romances of Alexander — the " beast epic " — 
"bestiaries" — Mandeville — crusade tales — the Romance lan- 
guages — rhyme and accent — the langue d'oc and the langue 
d'oeil — troubadours — Froissart — the trouveres — Don Quix- 
ote — the minnesingers — Dante — Chaucer. 276 

CHAPTER XIV. SCIENCE AND MEDICINE 

Interest in natural phenomena — mistaken basis of astronomy — 
comets — horoscopes — thebusinessof the doctor — medicines of 
the day — exorbitant charges — barbers as physicians — talis- 
mans — runes — philters — witchcraft — the "evil eye" — 
the four " humors " — fear of alchemists — Friar Bacon and the 
brazen head — false notions of the alchemists — the " universal 
solvent" — the " elixir of life " — the "philosopher's stone" 

xii 



Contents 

— gunpowder — Roger Bacon's predictions — the earth a 
sphere — supposed wonders of distant lands — Prester John — 
imaginative natural history — the phoenix — the mandrake — 
methods of divination — the " Witches' Sabbath " — the be- 
lief in analogy — false beliefs — imagination rather than observ- 
ation — the need of common sense. 312 

CHAPTER XV. ARCHITECTURE AND THE ARTS 

Saint Sophia — Byzantine architecture — Saint Mark — the horses 
of Saint Mark — the Alhambra — the Court of Lions — Ro- 
manesque architecture — the Gothic architecture — the pointed 
arch — characteristics of Gothic architecture — tessellated floors 

— mosaics — fresco — Cimabue — Giotto — Yxz. Angelico — 
diptychs — triptychs — illuminating — cost of books — colored 
glass — enamel — sculpture — the church as a school — the 
amount of gold and silver used in churches — King Alfred's 
jewel — Saint Eloy — embroidery — tapestry — the Bayeux 
Tapestry — the organ — the pageant of Queen Isabella — cor- 
onation and reception of Henry VI — characteristics of the 
Middle Ages. 338 



When Knights were Bold 




LEAVING THE CASTLE 



WHEN KNIGHTS WERE BOLD 

CHAPTER I 

Page, Squire, and Knight 

It must have been a sight well worth seeing when a 
knight mounted his horse and galloped away from a cas- 
tle. Of course his armor was polished and shining, and, 
as Lowell says of Sir Launfal, he ** made morn through 
the darksome gate." The children of the castle espe- 
cially must have watched him with the greatest interest. 
The girls looked wistfully at the scarf or glove on his 
helmet, each one hoping that he who would some day 
wear her colors would be the bravest man that ever 
drew a sword. As for the boys, they could hardly wait 
for the day to come when they, too, could don glitter- 
ing armor and sally forth into the world in quest of 
adventures. 

Even the youngest of these children knew that a boy 
must pass through long years of training before he could 
become a knight. This began when he was a small child, 
perhaps not more than seven years old. It was not the 
custom for the son of a noble to be brought up in the 

I 



When Knights were Bold 

home of his father. He was sent for his education and 
training to the castle of some lord of higher rank or 
greater reputation, sometimes to the court of the king. 
He was taught to look with the utmost respect upon the 
man who trained him to be a knight, to reverence him 
as a father, and to behave toward him with humility and 
meekness. Even if the time ever came when they were 
fighting on opposite sides^^the foster son must never harm 
the man whose castle had been his home. In those days 
of warfare and bloodshed, the king himself might well 
be glad to have as devoted supporters and friends a band 
of young men who had been carefully trained in the 
practice of arms. It is no wonder that kings and nobles 
looked upon it as a privilege to receive these boys into 
their castles. Indeed, when their fathers were inclined 
to keep them at home, the king sometimes demanded 
that they be sent to him. 

The boys of the days of knighthood were not so very 
different from those of to-day, and many of their amuse- 
ments were the same as now. They had various games of 
ball, they played marbles, they see-sawed, and walked on 
stilts, much as if they belonged to the twentieth century. 
Of course they played at being knights, just as boys to-day 
play at being merchants or manufacturers. There is an 

2 



Page, Squire, and Knight 

old picture of some pages, as these boys were called, play- 
ing that two toy knights mounted on wooden horses are 
having a contest. The two horses are pushed toward each 
other, and if either knight is struck by the spear of the 
other and thrust out of his place he is vanquished. 




PLAYING AT TOURNAMENTS 



This was only play, and there were many things that a 
page must learn and learn thoroughly before he was four- 
teen or fifteen. How much of " book learning" was given 
him is not known. Probably the custom differed in differ- 
ent places. In most cases, it could not have been a great 
amount, perhaps only a little reading, and it seems to have 
been regarded as no disgrace to a knight if he did not even 
know his letters. He must learn to sing, however, and to 



When Knights were Bold 

play his accompaniments on the harp ; and he must play 
backgammon and chess, for these games were looked upon 
as accomplishments which no gentleman could be with- 
out. He was taught to say his prayers and to have respect 
for the Church and religion. It was especially impressed 
upon him that he must be " serviceable," that is, he must 
wait upon the ladies and lords of the castle. He must run 
on errands for them and he must do their bidding in 
all things, for it was an honor to him to be permitted 
to serve them. A page who was disobedient would have 
been scorned and despised by the other pages, for they 
all hoped to become knights, and no true knight would 
refuse to obey the commands of his lord or the gentler 
behests of his lady-love. Such a one would have been 
looked upon as no knight, indeed, but rather as a rude, 
boorish churl. The page, or valet or damoiseau or babee, 
as he was also called, must always be gentle and polite ; 
for the knight was an ideal gentleman, and the gentle- 
man must never fail in courtesy. There is a quaint little 
volume called "The Babees' Book " which tells just how a 
boy who wished to become a knight was expected to 
behave. When he entered the room of his lord, he must 
greet all modestly with a "God speed you," and he must 
kneel on one knee before his lord. If his lord spoke to 

4 



Page, Squire, and Knight 

him, he must make an obeisance before answering. He 
must not lean against a post or handle things, but stand 
quietly, listen to what was said, and speak when he was 
spoken to. When the meal was prepared, he must bring 
water for hand-washing, presenting it first to his lord, and 
must hold a towel ready for him to use, a most desirable 
part of the preparation for a meal, as it was the custom for 
two persons to use the same trencher, or wooden plate, 
and forks were not in use. When the time came for the 
page himself to eat, he must not lean upon the table or 
soil the cloth or throw any bones upon the floor. If he 
chanced to use the same trencher with any one of higher 
rank than he, he must take meat from the trencher first, 
but he must be especially careful not to take the best 
piece. 

Thus it was that the indoor life of the page passed. 
Most of his indoor teaching was given him by the ladies 
of the castle. It was they who taught him to choose a 
lady-love for whose sake he was to be ever brave and 
pure and modest. The story is told of one shy little page 
at the court of France that when one of the court ladies 
asked whom he loved best, he replied, " My lady mother 
first, and after her my sister." ** That is not what I mean," 
said the lady. *' Tell me who is your lady-love in chiv- 

5 



When Knights were Bold 

airy." The little fellow admitted that he had none. After 
a severe lecture because he was so unchivalric, he chose 
a little girl of his own age. " She is a pretty little girl," 
replied the lady, " but she cannot advise you or help you 
on as a knight. You must choose some lady of noble 
birth who can give you counsel and aid. Then you must 
do everything in your power to please her. You must be 
courteous and humble and strive with all your might to 
win her favor." 

Out of doors, too, the page had much to learn. If his 
lord went to the field of battle, the page went with him 
to help him in every way that a boy could. He was in 
no danger, for a knight who attacked a page would have 
been shamed and disgraced. As for riding, of course he 
had not been allowed to reach the age of seven without 
knowing how to sit on a horse ; but now riding became 
a matter of business. It was not a mere canter on a pony 
whenever he took a fancy ; it was a careful training, for 
he must practice leaping over ditches and walls, he must 
be able to spring into the saddle without touching the 
stirrup, and, in short, he must learn to be as perfectly at 
home on the back of a horse as on his own feet. Light 
weapons were provided for him, and he must learn how 
to use sword and lance and bow, and how to swim and 

6 



Page, Squire, and Knight 

box and fence. He must meet the other boys of the cas- 
tle in mock contests. These were carefully watched by 
the elders, who were eager to see whether or not the son 




A KING RECEIVING A KNIGHT 



of some valiant knight bade fair to maintain the repu- 
tation of his father. 

A most important part of the boy's instruction was 
hunting, or the " mystery of the woods," and hawking, 
or the ** mystery of the rivers," so called because it was 
often pursued on the open banks of streams. The page who 

7 



When Knights were Bold 

understood hawking had conquered a most complicated 
branch of his education. He had to learn the different 
kinds of falcons, how to train the birds to throw them- 
selves upon their prey, how to feed them, and what calls 
to use with them. There was a rule for every act; for 
instance, there was only one way in which a hawk might 
be properly carried. The master's arm must be held par- 
allel with his body, but not touching it, and the forearm 
must be held out at a right angle as a perch for the bird. 
A man who would practice the mystery of the rivers and 
did not carry his falcon in the approved fashion would 
have been the laughing-stock of his companions. Even 
pages had their own falcons, and a taste for hunting and 
hawking was looked upon as a mark of noble blood. 
When a page was sent to bear a letter, he sometimes 
carried his falcon on his wrist for company on the way. 
There were possible dangers on every journey, but I 
fancy that the page was always glad to be sent with a 
message, especially if it was a pleasant one, for then he 
was sure of a warm welcome and generous gifts from the 
happy recipient. 

During the seven or eight years that he was a page, 
the boy was always looking forward to the time when 
he would become a squire, for this was the next step 

8 



Page, Squire, and Knight 

toward knighthood. Now that he had grown older and 
stronger, more service was required of him, and his ex- 
ercises became more severe. Within the castle he con- 
tinued to serve at the table ; but he was now privileged 
to present the first or principal cup of wine. He still 
brought water for the hand-washing, and he carved the 
meat. He never sat at the same table with his lord. In- 
deed, in many places a knight would not permit his own 
son to eat with him until he, too, had been made a 
knight. In Chaucer's description of a squire, he makes 
it clear that the young man of twenty years was a brave 
young fellow who had had considerable experience in 
warfare, but 

Curteys he was, lowly and servisable, 
And carf beforn his fader at the table. 

After the meal was over, squires and pages together cleared 
the hall for dancing, or they brought tables for check- 
ers or for the heavy chessboards then in use. Whatever 
amusement was on foot, the squire was permitted to share. 
Indeed, throughout all the training of a boy for knight- 
hood, it was never forgotten that he must be taught to 
make himself as agreeable within the castle as he was 
expected to be courageous without its walls. An import- 
ant part of his education was practice in composing love 

9 



When Knights were Bold 

songs. He was expected of course to have his lady-love, 
for whom he must be ready to endure all hardships and 
meet all dangers. 

He continued the exercises of his days as a page ; but 
he gave much more time to them. He learned to leap 
farther, to run longer distances, to climb jagged cliffs 
almost as perpendicular as the walls of the cities which 
he hoped some day to be able to aid in capturing. He 
learned to bear hunger and thirst and heat and cold and 
to keep himself awake through long nights of watching. 
His weapons were now made larger and heavier. He was 
taught to wield the great battle-axe, to endure the weight 
of armor, and to move about in it easily. A battle in the 
Middle Ages was more like a large number of duels than 
a contest between bodies of troops, and an exceedingly 
good preparation for this kind of warfare was an exer- 
cise known as the quintain. For this a post was set in 
the ground on top of which was a crosspiece that would 
whirl around at a touch. From one end of the cross- 
piece hung a board and from the other a sand-bag. The 
squire must ride up to this at full tilt and strike the 
board with his lance. But woe to him who was slow or 
clumsy, for quick as a flash the crosspiece whirled about, 
and he was struck a substantial blow by the sand-bag. 

lO 



Page^ Squire, and Knight 

Often the figure of a knight was used, so hung that 
unless the young squire was skillful enough to strike it 
on the breast it struck him — and the wooden knight 
never missed his stroke. 




QUINTAIN 



Each squire in turn became " squire of the body," that 
is, he was the closest attendant of his lord. When his 
master went to the field of battle, the helmet was often 
entrusted to a page, but to carry the shield and armor 
was the task of the squire of the body. A much more 

I I 



• When Knights were Bold 

difficult part of his duty was to array the knight in his 
armor with all its complicated fasteningsrtEvery knight 
had his pennon. If he had given long service and had 
many followers, the point or points of his pennon were 
cut off, leaving a square banner. He was then called a 
banneret. Both banneret and baron were privileged to 
act as commanders of little armies of their own. They 
were under the king, but each one had his own war-cry 
and called his men together under his own standard.^V 
Whether the squire served banneret or baron or knight, 
it was his honorable task to bear the banner or pennon. 
He needed to have his wits about him, for if the knight 
dropped his weapon, he must be ready to pass him a fresh 
one. If the knight was unhorsed, the squire must catch 
his horse if necessary, and help him to mount; and if the 
horse itself was wounded seriously, the squire must have 
ther one ready or must bring forward his own. If the 
ght took a prisoner, he was passed over into the charge 
the squire, that the knight might be left free for fur- 
ther contests. If the knight was getting the worst of the 
fight or was attacked by several at once, the squire must 
come to his aid ; if he was taken prisoner, the squire 
must rescue him if possible; if he was wounded, must 
carry him to a place of safety ; and if he was killed, it 

12 



Page, Squire, and Knight 

was the sad duty of the squire to see that he received an 
honorable burial. 

/ Every year brought the time nearer when the squire 
was to be made a knight. The one thing necessary to 
bring this about was for the king or some other knight 
to give him the accolade, that is, a blow on his should- 




KNIGHTS FIGHTING 



der or the back of his neck as he knelt to receive it. This 
was usually followed by the words, " In the name of God, 
of Saint Michael, and of Saint George, I dub thee knight. 
Be brave, ready, and loyal." Sometimes all that was said 
was, " Be a good knight." When a number of squires 
were to be made knights, as often happened just before 
or just after a battle, the ceremony was no more com- 

13 



When Knights were Bold 

plicated than this. Sometimes on the very battle-field, 
when a squire had done some praiseworthy deed of brav- 
ery, he was knighted in this simple and direct fashion. 
When there was plenty of time, however, the process 




CONFERRING KNIGHTHOOD ON THE BATTLE-FIELD 

was much longer. First, the hair of the candidate was 
cut. To give up one's hair was looked upon as a mark 
of the devotion of one's self to God. Generally the cut- 
ting of a single lock was regarded as sufficient, but some- 
times the head was shaved in the fashion of the tonsure 

14 




Page, Squire^ and Knight 

of the priest. The candidate was put into a bath and then 
into a bed. Every part of the ceremony had a meaning, 
and these acts signified, first, purity, and then the rest 
which he who had been pure would enjoy in Paradise. 
He was now supposed to be cleansed from all sins of his 
previous life, and to symbolize this he was arrayed in a 
white shirt, or long tunic. Over it a red garment with 
long sleeves and a hood was thrown to indicate that he 
was ready to shed his blood in the service of God, and 
finally a close black coat was put upon him to remind 
him of the death which all must meet. After twenty- 
four hours of fasting, he spent a night in a church, keep- 
ing what was called the vigil of arms, that is, kneeling 
by his armor, praying and meditating. When the sun 
rose, he made his confession to a priest, heard mass, and 
partook of the Holy Sacrament. 

This was his final preparation. Later in the day he and 
his friends went to the church or the castle hall. The 
young man gave his sword to the priest, and the priest 
laid it upon the altar, praying that God would bless it 
and that it might defend the Church and protect widows 
and orphans. The candidate took a solemn oath that it 
should be used for these purposes. The priest then re- 
turned the sword to him and made a little address on the 

15 



When Knights were Bold 

duties that lay before him in his new life and reminded 
him of the happiness that awaited him who performed 
these duties with faithfulness and zeal. 

Now came the moment for which every one was wait- 
ing. The young man went forward to the lord who was 
to make him a knight and knelt before him with clasped 
hands. The lord questioned him somewhat in this wise: 
" Why do you wish to be made a knight? Is it with the 
hope of gaining treasure? Is it that men may show you 
honor? " On the young man's declaring that he had no 
such wishes, both knights and ladies united in arming 
him. The golden spurs came first, then the other pieces 
of armor, and last of all the sword. The lord then gave 
him the accolade, sometimes a light touch with the sword 
on the shoulder or the nape of the neck, and sometimes 
a hearty blow with the hand or even the clenched fist. 
This was followed by the charge, to be brave, ready, and 
loyal. The older knights drew their swords and repeated 
the vows which they had taken on entering chivalry, 
and the priest pronounced the blessing of the Church 
upon one and all. So it was that in the ceremony of 
making a knight, the Church, the soldier, and the woman 
had each a share. The assembly then passed out into the 
open air. The horse of the newly made knight stood 

i6 



Page, Squire, and Knight 

waiting. He sprang upon its back — and unless he wished 
to disgrace his new honors, he must not touch the stir- 
rup — and rode about the court, prancing and caracoling, 
brandishing his glittering sword, and showing how well 
he knew the use of his lance. The servants and minstrels 
of the castle had waited patiently, and now they had 
their share in the rejoicings, for to prove his gratitude 
for receiving the noble gift of knighthood the young 
knight made as generous a gift to each one as his purse 
would permit. 



CHAPTER II 

The Knight's Arms and Armor 

The chief weapons used by knights were the lance and 
the sword, and therefore they needed especially some sort 
of protection against the thrust of a lance and the stroke 
of a sword. Every knight wore a helmet, for nothing 11 
would please his enemy better than to strike a mighty 
blow that would cleave his head from its crown to the 
breastbone. There were many sorts of helmets. Some 
were shaped like closely-fitting hoods, covering the back 
of the head, but leaving the face unprotected. Some 
were cone-shaped and had visors that could be lifted, and 
others were much like broadbrimmed hats. Some had a 
piece of iron called a nasal which extended down over 
the forehead and nose ; and some covered the whole 
head like a kettle and had slits through which the 
knight might peer out at his enemy — or through 
which the enemy might sometimes thrust the point of 
a spear. The helmet was not always plain by any 
means, for it was often beautifully ornamented with 
silver or gold. It was heavy enough at best ; but the 

i8 



The Knight's Arms and Armor 




A CREST 



warrior bold never objected to increasing its weight by 

adding as a crest a little image of an eagle or a lion or a 

dragon to suggest to his enemy what a 

brave man he was. 

The warrior must guard his heart as 

well as his head, and he always wore 

some sort of armor to protect his body. 

For a long while this was in the form of a short tunic or 

shirt called a hauberk. With it, chausses, or breeches, 

were worn. At the neck a hood 
of mail was joined to the hau- 
berk, or habergeon, which served 
to protect the back of the head. 
In the earlier times the hauberk 
was made of leather or cloth and 
was often thickly wadded and 
quilted. Indeed, the leather hau- 
berks never went entirely out 
of use so long as armor was 
worn. Sometimes they were 
really handsome, for the leather 

was stamped, colored, and gilded in elaborate patterns. 

They were cheap and convenient; but when an enemy 

was galloping up to a man and thrusting a lance at his 

^9 




HAUBERK 



When Knights were Bold 

heart with fall force, even the thickest leather was small 
protection. It occurred to some one with an inventive 
mind that if rings of metal were only sewed upon this 
tunic, it would not be so easy for either lance or sword 
to reach the heart of a man. The rings were sewed on 
in rows, and before long larger rings were sewed over 
them. Then some one said to himself, "Why sew the 
rings on leather or cloth ? Why not interlace them in a 
network ? " and soon knights were setting forth to battle 
with coats of mail made of interlaced rings. A coat of 
this kind was far less clumsy and heavy than a leather 
tunic. Moreover, it could be rolled up into so small a 
bundle that it could be carried on the back of a saddle. 
This was a fairly good protection against sword and 
spear, and probably the knights who first went out to 
battle with new and shining ring or chain armor felt that 
nothing better could ever be invented ; but there were 
two other weapons whose blow was only made more 
dangerous by this armor. These were the battle-axe 
and the heavy battle-hammer, or martel. The head 
of the hammer sometimes weighed twenty pounds, and 
with a strong man to wield it with both hands it became 
a terrible weapon. The priests and bishops of those days 
were often called upon to lead their people in fighting 

20 



The Knight's Arms and Armor 

as well as in praying. The Church law forbade them to 
"take the sword," but it said nothing about the ham- 
mer; therefore they took the hammer and went into 
battle with clear consciences. When either hammer or 
axe struck its crushing blow, chain 
armor was worse than nothing, for 
it tore the flesh beneath it into 
rough, jagged wounds that were 
hard to heal. 

The next invention was to fasten 
on plates of steel at the most ex- 
posed places, and soon the coudiere 
protected the elbow and the genou- 
illiere the knee. Little by little the 
chain armor disappeared, and armor 
of overlapping scales took its place. 
Every piece had its name. The 
chest and back were protected by 

a cuirass ; the throat by a gorget, and thighs by cuisses, 
the arms and shoulders by brassarts and ailettes, and the 
hands by gauntlets, while the chausses were extended 
to protect the toes. The chain armor was much easier 
to put on, and a knight could slip it over his head 
even after he saw his enemy in the distance galloping 

2 I 




KNIGHT IN ARMOR 



When Knights were Bold 

toward him. The plate armor protected him from sword 
and spear and in great degree from hammer and battle- 
axe, but it took so long to put it on that the knight had 
to wear it not only in time of battle, but whenever there 
was the least danger of being surprised by an enemy. 
When two knights fought, the one who could unhorse 
the other was usually the winner, for while his adversary 
rolled helplessly on the ground, he could slip a thin, 
slender dagger in between the plates of his armor and 
kill him. To do such a deed, however, would have been 
a shame and disgrace to any true knight unless he first 
asked, "Will you yield, rescue or no rescue?" If the 
vanquished man replied, "I yield," the dagger of mercy, 
as it was called, was not used, but he was led away as a 
prisoner. If a knight fell into the power of a man who 
had not taken even the first steps toward knighthood, he 
was indeed in difficulties. Naturally, he wished to save 
his life ; but to surrender to an adversary of low degree 
would be a humiliation hard for any valiant knight to 
endure. Some one discovered an amusing way of escap- 
ing from this dilemma. He simply made his captor a 
knight and then surrendered to him; thus saving both 
his life and his pride. 

The knight wore golden spurs. These were his espe- 

22 



The Knight's Arms and Armor 

cial badge of honor, and they were forbidden to all of 
lesser rank. He carried a shield large enough to protect 
his body and to serve as a litter on which, if he was 
wounded, he could be carried from the field. Across 
his shoulder he often wore a silken scarf called a baldric, 
embroidered by the lady for whose glory his deeds of 
prowess were done. In Joseph Rodman Drake's poem 
on The American Flag, he said that its white came from 
" the milky baldric of the skies," meaning the Milky 
Way. Another way by which a knight could show loyalty 
to one's lady-love was to fasten her glove or scarf to his 
helmet. Still another way was to fasten one of her 
sleeves to his shoulder. Sleeves were so long in those 
times that they sometimes touched the ground, and 
must have hampered the knight badly. The fashion of 
wearing them as pennons was much more reasonable. 

As a protection from the heat of the sun, which beat 
down upon his armor of steel, the knight wore also a 
sort of sleeveless tunic called a tabard, and also jupon, 
gipon, and surcoat. At first this was made of linen or a 
coarse cloth known as fustian, but as people became 
more luxurious, silk or fur or cloth of gold was used. 
It must soon have become badly stained by the armor 
beneath it. The poet Chaucer never failed to notice 

23 



When Knights were Bold 

whether things were fresh and clean and dainty, and he 
wrote of a knight who had just returned from war- 
fare, — 

Of fustian he wered a gipoun 

Al bismotered [stained] with his habergeoun. 

After armor was so made that it hid the face of the 
knight, the custom arose of engraving some device upon 
the shield or breastplate by which he might 
be recognized. This was also embroidered 
j upon his surcoat and upon the trappings of his 
horse. These are the "arms" or "coats of 
arms" or "armorial bearings" that have been 
handed down in many families, together with 
the figures on the helmets known as crests. 
The oldest arms were simple arrangements of 
straight lines, but soon the devices became 
more complex. Circles, trefoils, arrows, and swords were 
used. The figures of animals appeared, such as cranes, 
mullets, lions, and horses ; and also fabulous beasts, such 
as dragons and unicorns. Frequently a device was chosen 
which had connection with some event of its bearer's 
life. If a man had a noted adventure with a wolf, he 
was likely to choose the figure of a wolf for his coat of 
arms. The terms in which arms are described are taken 

24 




The Knight's Arms and Armor 

from the French ; for instance, in figure 2, if the shield 
is silver and the bar, or " rafter," is red, the proper 
description would be : '* Argent, a chevron gules." 

The favorite weapons of the knight were the spear 
and the sword, as has been said. The spear was made of 
ash and had a head of iron. Just below the head the 
ensign, called the gonfanon, or pennon, was fastened. 
This was sometimes made of linen, but often of the 
richest silk. The sword which hung from the knight's 
belt was his darling. He spoke of it almost as affection- 
ately as if it had been a brother in arms. " My own 
good sword," he called it. He even gave it a name. 
Charlemagne's sword was Joyosa ; Roland's was Durin- 
dana ; Arthur's was Excalibur. The Cid's favorite sword, 
Tizona, was buried with him. The sword was more 
than a weapon, for blade and hilt formed the sacred 
sign of the cross, and many a good knight and true has 
kissed it fervently and murmured his last prayer as he 
lay dying on the field of battle. Not only the sword, 
but also many other parts of the knight's equipment had 
their significance. The straightness of the spear sym- 
bolized truth, and its iron head, strength. The helmet 
suggested modesty ; the spurs, diligence. The shield 
reminded him that as by its use he saved his own body, 

25 



When Knights were Bold 

so ought he to use that body to protect his lord when 
in danger. 

The knight's good steed that carried him into the 
battle was an important part of his equipment. The 
powerful horses of Spain were always liked by knights, 

but the Arabian 
coursers were even 
greater favorites. 
The horses of the 
Arabs had been 
petted and loved 
and treated almost 
as members of their 
masters' families 
for so many genera- 
tions that they were 
fearless servants and 
devoted friends. If the knight was thrown from his 
seat, the horse had no thought of running away, but 
stood quietly beside him, waiting for him to mount. 
The horse as well as his rider was protected by armor, 
so that head, chest, and flanks were safe from spear 
thrusts. He was arrayed in trappings as handsome as his 
master could afford. The housings, or saddlecloths, were 

26 




KNIGHT ON HORSEBACK 



The Knight's Arms and Armor 

often of rich material and decorated with embroidery. 
On his head, he, too, wore a crest, and around his neck 
a collar of little bells. Chaucer says of a monk who 
liked to go hunting. 

And whan he rood men myghte his brydel here 
Gynglen in a whistlyng wynd as clere, 
And eek as loude as doth the chapel belle. 

It was on the bridle, however, that the knight lavished 
his pennies. This was ornamented with gold and silver 
and embroidery, and even with precious stones, that 
flashed and sparkled as the steed bore his rider proudly 
into the contest. After the combat of the day was over, 
the tent pitched, and the supper prepared, the faithful 
horse was not forgotten, and one of the early pictures 
shows him eating comfortably from a crib in his mas- 
ter's tent close to the knight's own table. 



CHAPTER III 

Jousts and Tournaments 

After the young squire had become a knight, he some- 
times remained in the castle of his lord for a time or he 
went back to his father's home. In either case life must 
have seemed a little tame after all the excitement of 
entering knighthood. It is no wonder that he was eager 
to go out into the world to try his new armor and do 
honor to his lady by his deeds of valor. 

There were several ways in which a knight might 
prove his worthiness to enter chivalry. The simplest was 
to mount his horse and ride out in quest of adventures. 
His bright shining armor was protected from rain and 
he himself from heat by his unsoiled surcoat. Behind 
him rode his squire, carrying, his master's shield and hel- 
met and an armful of lances. The squire was not always 
a rash, hot-headed young fellow by any means. A man 
could hardly maintain knighthood properly without a 
generous income, and many a squire who was fully quali- 
iied to enter the ranks of the knights never went beyond 

28 



Jousts and Tournaments 

the second grade in chivalry. It was well for the ven- 
turesome knight errant, or wandering knight, if his 
squire was some sturdy warrior of middle age who would 
sympathize with his master's thirst for gallant achieve- 
ments, but would hold him back from foolish reckless- 
ness. The country was wild and rough. Deeds of vio- 
lence were common, and the young knight might be 
fortunate enough to find an adventure ready made. He 
might discover that some maiden fair had been torn from 
her friends ; and he could perhaps rescue her and restore 
her to them. He might stop at a friendly castle to spend 
the night and find that its lord would be glad of his aid 
to defend it against some expected attack of its enemies. 
Even if all was peaceful, there might be a chance of a 
contest, or joust. When he appeared at the gate, the 
porter might tell him that it was the " custom of the 
castle " for every knight who wished a lodging to joust 
with one or two of the knightly inmates or with the 
lord of the castle. If the knight errant vanquished his 
challenger, he should have the best lodging that the castle 
afforded; but if he was overcome, he might go his 
way, or so the porter declared. Visitors were so welcome, 
however, in the rather lonely castles that I doubt whether 
any promising stranger was ever allowed to go forth to 

29 



When Knights were Bold 

make his lodgment in the forest. Sometimes the stranger 
himself was the challenger ; and when he came to a castle 
gate, he would bid the porter say to the lord of the castle 
that a knight errant would gladly joust with him or some 
other brave knight. The stranger was welcomed and led 
within the walls, and the word was carried through the 
castle that a joust was to take place. Then ladies and 
knights and squires, the great folk and the small folk of 
the place, all betook themselves to the tilting-ground. 
This was a green, grassy, level spot within the court- 
yard, surrounded by turfy banks for the lookers-on. The 
knights took their places, one at each end of the open 
space. They bent low upon their horses and couched 
their lances. Then they put spurs to their steeds and 
dashed together with all their might, each trying to strike 
the shield of the other with such force that he would fall 
to the ground. Sometimes both spears were shivered. 
Then the men would take fresh weapons and try a sec- 
ond bout. 

Another way by which an ardent knight errant often 
made sure of a contest was by taking his stand at a bridge 
or where two roads crossed and challenging every passing 
knight to joust with him. If darkness came and no ad- 
versary had been found, he would lay down his shield, 

30 




31 



When Knights were Bold 

take his helmet for a pillow, say his prayers, and go to 
sleep, hoping for better luck in the morning. Sometimes 
the knight errant, instead of simply challenging the other 
to a contest, would declare that his lady was the fairest 
woman in the world, and that he was ready to fight any 
knight in the land to maintain her preeminence in beauty. 
The opposing knight was of course equally ready to de- 
clare that his lady-love was far more beautiful. The ques- 
tion must be decided by a combat. This usually meant 
three courses. The spears were carefully "bated," that is, 
blunted. This was often done by heading them with a 
" coronal," a sort of crown ending in from two to six 
blunt points. These would take hold on shield or helmet, 
but would do no injury to the wearer. Such a contest 
was called 2i joute a plaisance, or joust of peace. Unless 
something happened to arouse the wrath of the com- 
batants, there was rarely any serious injury done to 
either of them ; but if two knights fought in anger, 
using deadly weapons, their combat was known as 2i joute 
a routrancey that is, a joust to the extreme. After the 
contest was done, the victor spoke in somewhat this 
wise to the vanquished : " I bid you make your way 
to my lady, through whose favor I have won this victory, 
and submit yourself wholly to her grace and mercy." 

32 



Jousts and Tournaments 

As one knight after another presented himself to the 
lady, she must certainly have been fully convinced that 




A TOURNAMENT 



her champion was true to her. Moreover, those were 
times of danger and violence, and every evidence of his 
courage and valor was one more proof of his ability to 
guard her and protect her. 

33 



When Knights were Bold 

These chance jousts at crossroads and castles were 
good practice in the use of arms, but the grand oppor- 
tunity for a knight not only to show excellence in 
knighthood but to manifest ability under the very eyes 
of his lady-love was found in the tournament, or en- 
counter of many knights in a sort of mimic battle. 
These tournaments were given by wealthy nobles or by 
the king himself, and elaborate preparations were made 
for them long beforehand. The invitations were car- 
ried by the heralds of the giver of the tournament. A 
castle guard would report that a herald with trumpets 
and escort was making his way to the castle gate. The 
gate was straightway thrown open, and with a great clat- 
tering of hoofs the little cavalcade rode over the draw- 
bridge and through the low, dark gateway into the 
courtyard. The trumpeter blew a blast to call the at- 
tention of the folk of the castle. He might have saved 
his breath, however, for long before this, lords and 
ladies, knights, squires, pages, and servants, even down 
to the scullions in the kitchen, had hurried into the 
courtyard or had found some other place where they 
could hear what the herald had to say. Then came 
the proclamation of the tournament, addressed to all 
who would show their right to knighthood and mani- 

34 



Jousts and Tournaments 

fest their respect for ladies. The place, the hour, the 
prizes, the armor and weapons required, and some- 
times even the number of squires and attendants that 




PROCLAIMING A TOURNAMENT 



each knight must bring were proclaimed. The herald 
blew his trumpet and gave his announcement not only 
at castles, but wherever markets were held. Sometimes, 
if the tournament was to be of unusual splendor, invita- 

35 



When Knights were Bold 

tions were sent not only throughout the land of the 
giver, but even into neighboring countries. 

Traveling was slow work, therefore the invitations 
must have been given long before the time set for the 
tournament, but I fancy that there was not a young 
knight in the land who did not, on the very day of the 
herald's visit, begin to polish his armor and take a look 
at his spears to make sure that their ashen shafts showed 
no sign of flaw. As for the ladies, they, too, had their 
share of preparations to make, for they must appear in 
their most sumptuous attire to grace the occasion. Each 
one hoped that her own special knight would cover 
himself with glory, and then she would fain look her 
fairest that all might have respect for the choice that 
he had made. 

The journey to a tournament might be long, but it 
was safer than other journeys, for even rulers of hostile 
countries would have thought it unworthy of them to 
interfere with those who were on their way to a trial 
of arms. As for the king of whatever land it might 
be in which the tournament was to take place, he was al- 
ways^delighted with any occasion that gave his knights 
practic From far and near little companies of knights 
with the ladies of the noble households and the squires 

36 




Jousts and Tournaments 

and pages and servants in attendance rode merrily to- 
ward the place of meeting. Once there, they were wel- 
comed by their host, and lodgings were arranged for 
them. Some were to sleep within the castle itself, some 
in a neighboring village, some in tents belonging to the 
lord of the castle, and some had brought their own tents. 
Wherever a knight was lodged, he planted his spear and 
banner, and over the entrance he set up the design 
which was on his coat of arms. These designs were 
known to all the other knights, and they were carefully 
scrutinized. In the earlier days of chivalry, only knights 
of noble descent were allowed to join in a tournament, 
but in later times not only men of humble birth who 
had been knighted for their bravery, but even squires 
were admitted to the privileges of the lists. Occasion- 
ally, too, a man who had some good reason for not re- 
vealing his name was allowed to join the tourney. Hum- 
ble birth, then, might be pardoned and concealment of 
one's name might sometimes be overlooked, but there 
was one thing that was never forgiven, and that was un- 
worthiness. If a knight had been false to any woman 
or had broken his word or had shown cowiMice* 
or ingratitude, he might as well have rerrjP'ned at 
home, for he would be forbidden to take any part in 

37 



When Knights were Bold 

the tournament and his banner would be torn down in 
disgrace. 

The courtyard of the castle must have seemed like a 
village in a time of holiday. There were old friends 
who saw each other but seldom ; there were knights 
whose rumored bravery every one wanted to see tested ; 
there were gallant youths and maidens fair. There was 
talk of other tournaments and the feats which had made 
them remembered, of hawking and hunting, of new 
castles that had been built and old ones that had been 
valiantly defended, of weapons and warfare and horses and 
heroes. There were little trial jousts between knights. 
There were feasting and music and dancing and singing 
and exchanging of gifts and plighting of troth. 

On the night before the tournament everybody went to 
bed early; but when the morning had come, the court- 
yard was no longer a village on a holiday, it was rather 
a village hard at work. No one was idle, for the handles 
of the shields must be tried, the armor must have its final 
polish ; straps, rivets, and buckles must be examined for 
the last time. Horses must be fed and rubbed down. 
Even the musicians were testing their clarions and ket- 
tle-drums and pipes and trumpets as if the success of 
the whole day depended upon their being in full tone. 

38 




KING AT arms: SHOWING ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF CONTESTANTS 



39 



When Knights were Bold 

Everybody was discussing those who were to contest. 
One was a favorite because he had distinguished himself 
elsewhere, another because of his great strength or his 
determined manner or his skill in managing his horse. 
Of course every lady had her favorite knight; but the 
ladies were bound to be fair, for they were umpires if 
any dispute arose, and the prizes were presented accord- 
ing to their decision. Early in the morning the con- 
testants had been to mass, and now, when all was ready, 
every one turned toward the lists. These had been pre- 
pared long before. A level oblong area had been fenced 
off with a double row of wooden railings. Between the 
two was a space saved for those who were to assist injured 
knights or who held some position of responsibility. 
Outside of this space wooden galleries, often very hand- 
some, had been built for the spectators. These galleries 
were gorgeous with tapestry and banners and with the 
bright-colored dresses and sparkling jewels of the ladies. 
The lord of the tournament had already announced what 
arms it would be allowable to use. As a general thing, 
it was forbidden to bring into the lists any weapon with 
a sharp point. The broadsword, but not the pointed 
sword, was sometimes permitted. The points of the 
lances were removed or protected by coronals or covered 

40 




41 



When Knights were Bold 

with pieces of wood called rockets. The heralds now 
proclaimed the rules of the contest. He who broke 
most lances was to have the first prize; but they must 
be broken in strict accordance with the laws of the 
tournament ; for instance, to break a spear by striking a 
man out of his saddle counted three points, but to break 
one by striking the saddle itself made a loss of one point. 
To meet coronal with coronal twice was regarded as 
worthy of a prize, but it counted less than to unhorse a 
man with a spear thrust. The prize was lost to any one 
who struck a horse, or struck a man when his back was 
turned or when he was unarmed. To break a lance across 
the breast of an opponent was looked upon as a shame be- 
cause it showed poor riding, and to ride well was the 
most essential qualification of a knight. Shakespeare 
laughs at the " puny tilter, that spurs his horse but on 
one side." If for a moment of rest or for any other reason 
a man took off his helmet, no one might touch him un- 
til it was replaced ; but to prevent any abuse of the priv- 
ilege, he who removed his helmet twice for any other 
reason than because his horse had failed him lost all 
chance of a prize. 

After the constable had examined the arms of the 
knights, he looked carefully at their saddle fastenings to 

42 



Jousts and Tournaments 

make sure that no one proposed to stick to his horse by 
leather straps rather than by good horsemanship. When 
all was ready, the heralds cried, " Come forth, knights, 
come forth ! " and a glittering cavalcade made its way into 
the lists. The horses in their superb trappings, their bri- 
dles blazing with jewels, pranced and caracoled. Some- 
times every knight was led by a chain of gold or silver, 
the other end of which was held in the white hand of 
some lady fair. The armor gleamed and flashed in the sun. 
Armorial bearings shone forth on the brightly polished 
shields. From jeweled helmets and from lances fluttered 
gloves or ribbons belonging to the ladies who were watch- 
ing so eagerly, and from many a knightly shoulder'hung 
the richly ornamented sleeve of some comely maiden. 

The knights were in two groups separated by a rope, 
one party at either end of the lists. Behind them rode 
their squires, often as many as three to a knight. " Let 
go," cried the ladies. The trumpets sounded. " Do your 
duty, valiant knights ! " the heralds shouted. The rope 
was snatched aside. The knights bent low, put spurs to 
their horses, and with lances in rest dashed forward to meet 
their opponents, each one calling the name of his lady- 
love. "The eyes of the beautiful behold you ! Onward, 
onward ! " cried the spectators. The minstrels played, the 

43 



When Knights were Bold 

trumpets blared, the plain was shaken with the trampling 
of the horses ; the din of arms and the cracking of stout 
ashen spears filled the air. Men were thrown from their 
steeds, blood mingled with the dust — and the first course 
had been run. 

Sometimes there were several such encounters ; and 
when the end had come, the heralds cried, " Fold your 
banners!" and soon the lists were deserted. After the 
knights had bathed and dressed, they met the ladies in 
the great hall of the castle and banqueted and made merry. 
The scene for which all waited was yet to 'come; and 
when the feasting had been brought to an end, the fair 
lady who had been chosen " Queen of Love and Beauty " 
took her seat upon a dais. The heralds led up to her one 
brave knight after another, rehearsing in a loud voice the 
claims of each to a prize ; and as they knelt before her, 
she presented to each one the reward which in the judg- 
ment of the ladies was due to his valor. This was some- 
times a silver helmet or one richly ornamented with gold, 
a crown of gold, a golden clasp, or perhaps a diamond, 
ruby, or sapphire, set in a heavy golden ring. With every 
gift the " Queen " made a little speech which always 
closed with the hope that the recipient might be happy 
with his lady-love. " The victory was owing to the favor 

44 




CONFERRING PRIZES 

45 



When Knights were Bold 

of my lady which I wore in my helmet," was the proper 
reply for the knight to make. After the prizes had all been 
awarded, gifts were made to the heralds. Then followed 
a ball ; and here not the man of noblest birth, but the 
man who had shown most valor in the lists was most 
highly honored. With music and dancing the long, bright, 
joyous day came to its close. 

Frequently a single day was not enough to satisfy the 
love of knightly prowess, and on the second day the lists 
were given over to the squires. They wore the armor of 
their respective knights and strove their best to do it 
honor. Prizes were presented to them by young maidens. 
Sometimes there was even a third day of tilting, and in 
that case both knights and squires took part. 

Such was the general course of tournaments, but they 
differed at different times and in different countries and 
according to the wishes and rulings of the givers. Some- 
times if the leaders of the two sides chanced to be ene- 
mies or rivals, the tournament became a little war. Deadly 
weapons were then smuggled into the lists, and the ground 
was drenched with blood. The intention of the tourna- 
ment, however, was that the utmost courtesy should be 
shown and that an opportunity should be given to mani- 
fest skill in arms and cultivate it rather than to wound or 

46 



Jousts and Tournaments 

maim or destroy life. At best it was a rough and some- 
times a fatal sport, but it did teach men that even 
in the midst of the most eager struggles for victory it 
was possible for them to recognize laws and exercise self- 
restraint. 

An appeal to arms was often made to settle questions 
of justice. If tw.o men claimed the same piece of ground, 
for instance, they might decide the ownership by a con- 
test. Even if a man was accused of crime, he was some- 
times allowed to prove his innocence — if he could — by 
showing himself or his chosen champion the victor in a 
duel. Under Charlemagne a test of endurance was legally 
used when two men differed. They were made to take their 
stand before a cross with their arms stretched out. The 
one whose arms first dropped lost his suit. 

In charges of serious crime, however, the people of the 
Middle Ages often used methods that might well appall 
the most innocent. One was to bind the accused, hand 
and foot, and let him down by a rope into the water. It 
was believed that if he was guilty, the water would refuse 
to receive him and he would float; but that if he was in- 
nocent, he would sink. It is to be hoped that the officers 
never forgot to rescue the man who sank. Far worse than 
this was the ordeal by boiling water. This was a matter 

47 



When Knights were Bold 

of much ceremony. It took place in the church. First, 
a cross, a censer, and relics of the saints were borne into 
the building. The priest followed, carrying a copy of the 
Gospels. He chanted a litany and the seven penitential 
Psalms. He prayed that the truth might be revealed, and 
that if the accused had had recourse to herbs or magic, it 
might not save him. Holy water was sprinkled about, 
particularly upon the kettle, in order that any illusions of 
the devil might be driven away. Then with many pray- 
ers the hand of the accused was thoroughly washed. He 
drank a cup of holy water and plunged his hand into the 
boiling kettle. The hand was sealed up, and at the end 
of three days it was formally examined. If it showed no 
sign of a burn, the man was declared innocent ; but if 
there was a blister " half as large as a walnut," this was 
regarded as proof of his guilt. 

Another ordeal was that of the hot iron. This some- 
times consisted of carrying redhot iron seven or nine 
paces; sometimes of walking upon burning plough- 
shares. In the eleventh century Queen Emma of Eng- 
land was accused of crime and was brought into the 
church for the test. The pavement was carefully swept 
and nine redhot ploughshares were laid upon it. The 
queen's shoes and stockings were taken off and her cloak 

48 



Jousts and Tournaments 

thrown aside. Two bishops, one on either hand, led her 
toward the iron. Throughout the church there was sob- 
bing and weeping. "Help her, help her! Saint Swithin, 
help her ! " the people cried. The bishops, too, were in 
tears; but they bade her not to fear, for God would not 
suffer the innocent to come to harm. Then she stepped 
upon the ploughshares, one after another. The old ac- 
count says that she felt no pain and that her feet showed 
no injury. 

The theory of these trials was that God would always 
save the guiltless; but many explanations have been at- 
tempted of the reason why hot water and hot iron did 
not burn. If the water, or the melted lead, which was 
sometimes used, was hot enough, feats similar to these 
have been performed. In regard to the test of the red- 
hot iron, it has been suggested that during the many 
prayers that seem to have been said after the irons were 
laid in place, ploughshares on a stone floor would cool 
very rapidly. Again, we are reminded that all these trials 
were in the hands of the priests, that the people were 
expecting miracles, and that if the priests wished to save 
a man, they could easily arrange some deception or could 
harden his skin by some ointment — only no one can 
guess what the ointment could have been. 

49 



When Knights were Bold 

People connected with the Church were not obliged 
to undergo such experiences ; for, no matter of what 
crime they were accused, they could always demand a 
trial before the Church courts. This was called " benefit 
of clergy." In some of the Church courts of the thir- 
teenth century, if a man accused of crime swore that he 
was innocent and could bring in twelve of his friends 
who would lay their hands on some holy relics and 
swear that they believed him, he was allowed to go free. 
To escape in this way was not quite so easy as it looks ; 
for the general belief was that a perjurer would prob- 
ably be made a dwarf or would be unable to remove his 
hands or would even be struck dead. Naturally, then, 
the compurgators^ or fellow-swearers, were somewhat ner- 
vous, and if they made the least mistake in repeating 
the required form of words, their oaths were of no avail. 
Not only priests, but all their assistants, even to the door- 
keeper, were allowed benefit of clergy. In some places 
if a man could read a single line, he was allowed the 
same privilege. It is even said that the same verse of the 
Psalms was always used as a test. Besides the compara- 
tive comfort of the trial, the punishments of the Church 
courts were exceedingly light when contrasted with the 
brutal penalties of the kings' courts. But for the man 

50 



Jousts and Tournaments 

accused of serious crime who could not make out that 
he had any connection with the Church or any "book 
learning," there was generally little hope of escaping 
some one of the ordeals which have just been de- 
scribed. 



CHAPTER IV 

How TO Capture a Castle 

In the times when no man was safe unless he could 
protect himself with his own strong arm or the arms of 
his followers, the castle of a nobleman had to be well 
fortified. If it was not, the chances were that it would 
soon change owners. The very word ** castle" means a 
fortified residence. 

' At first the means of protection were of the simplest 
kind. A wide earthen wall thrown up around a group 
of huts was regarded as a valuable defense. Stronger 
walls were made by using trunks of trees and rough 
stone work for the foundation and filling in the spaces 
with earth. Stakes were driven down and bound to- 
gether to form a stout palisade, or fence. After a time 
wooden forts were reared of heavy logs and beams. 
Stone finally took the place of wood ; and it was of 
stone that most of the castles of the days of knighthood 
were built. These were far removed from the simple 
fortifications of earlier times. They had massive stone 
walls and towers, moats, or wide, deep ditches filled with 

52 



How to Capture a Castle 

water, inner courts and outer courts, chapels, cellars, 
dungeons, together with chambers and staircases cut out 
of the thickness of the walls, drawbridges, and under- 
ground passages — all of which seem somewhat romantic 




A CASTLE OF THE MIDDLE AGES 



in stories, but which were exceedingly necessary and 
matter-of-fact means of protection when they were built. 
For the site of a castle a noble sometimes chose an 
island in a lake, like the famous Castle of Chillon in Lake 
Geneva, or a low, swampy place that an enemy would 

53 



When Knights were Bold 

find difficult to reach ; but he generally preferred the 
bank of a river or some high, rocky location. One of 
the most famous castles was the Chateau Gaillard, or 
the " Saucy Castle," which was built in Normandy by 
Richard the Lion-hearted in the days when kings of 
England still held possessions in France. It stood on a 
narrow promontory three hundred feet above the river 
heine with a deep valley on either hand. The north end 
of the prop >ntory was so steep and rocky that there was 
linle danger of an attack o|i that side. The south end, 
hf M ever, .::l.»ped, and up this gently rising ground an 
en'=!m'«' might easily advance. It was wise, then, to make 
the fortifications exceedingly strong at the south. A 
glance at the plan shows how this was done. C represents 
an outwork with five strong towers whose walls were 
eleven feet thick. These were connected by " curtains," 
that is, heavy stone walls from eight to twelve feet thick 
and thirty feet or more in height. All around this mas- 
sive outwork was a ditch, E, some thirty feet wide and 
more than forty feet deep. The gate was at D ; but before 
any one could reach it, he must find some way of cross- 
ing the moat. Friends might cross by means of a wooden 
drawbridge; but at the first glimpse of an enemy, chains 
and weights were set in motion, and the bridge was 

54 




l\m^' 1^1 kill ^^V' ♦ ^' 




bird's-eye view of chSteau gaillard 

55 



When Knights were Bold 

pulled up flat against the wall. The gate was protected 
by a portcullis, that is, a sort of screen made of heavy 
beams, each one pointed with iron. When no enemy was 
at hand, this hung quietly above the entrance, but at the 
first sign of danger, there was a great rattling of chains, 
and in a moment the portcullis had dropped in its grooves. 
Between this outwork, or "outer court," C, and the 
"middle court," B, there must have been some sort of 
passage way, and probably walls to protect it. The 
middle court had also a moat. It had towers and cur- 
tains, and within it was 'a chapel, F, and a well, G. Out 
of this middle court an area was taken about as large as 
the outer court to form the "inner court," A. The wall 
which separated the two courts was so strong that it 
does not seem as if it could ever have been overthrown, 
for it was thirty feet high and eight feet thick. This 
was only the beginning of its strength, however, for on 
the side next the middle court rounding buttresses had 
been added. On top of the wall there were probably 
battlements, that is, a low, narrow wall running along 
the outer edge of the main wall and cut down at points 
a few feet apart. The defenders of the castle could shoot 
their arrows through the open spaces and then step be- 
hind the parapet for shelter. The wall protected the 

56 



How to Capture a Castle 

inner court, but the wall itself was protected, for the 
solid cliff on which it stood was cut down perpendicu- 
larly, or "scarped" for twenty feet, so that, even if an 
enemy had suc- 
ceeded in get- 
ting possession 
of the middle 
court, he would 
still have the 
moat, H, to 
cross ; and on 
the other side of 
tlfl^moat there 
would tower 
up above him 
twenty feet of 
perpendicular 
cliff and thirty 
feet of solid wall. 
The entrance 
to the inner 

court was at I. It was approached by a causew^ay cut out 
of the solid rock ; but it did not afford a very agreeable 
entrance to an unwelcome visitor, for there was an outer 




PLAN OF CHATEAU GAILLARD 



57 



When Knights were Bold 

portcullis and an inner portcullis ; and even if he suc- 
ceeded in passing these and also the gateway studded with 
iron, he would find himself at the foot of a steep stairway- 
cut in the rock, and the greeting that he would receive 
from the inmates of the castle would not be to his liking. 
The inner court, then, stood some twenty feet above 
the middle court. It was protected by a wall thirty feet 
high with a perpendicular base twenty feet high and by 
a moat. Within this court was a deep well, for in case of 
a siege the defenders of this court might be cut off from 
the well at G. In this inner court was the strongest for- 
tification of all, the castle proper, the great tower known 
as the keep, K. Its walls were eleven feet thick. Th^pr- 
cular space within was twenty-six feet in diameter. In the 
basement was one window, but no door. The first floor 
had two windows, but they were small, for safety was 
thought of before air and sunshine. Here, however, was 
a door, small and well protected. It was many feet from 
the ground and was probably reached by a ladder or mov- 
able stairway. The keep was of a singular shape. Evi- 
dently King Richard thought that there was little danger 
of an attack being made from the west, for on that side 
was a sheer descent of cliff; but the spur of the keep that 
projected into the first court he made in the shape of a 

58 



How to Capture a Castle 

right angle and built it of solid masonry. The keep was 
the final place of refuge, and even after every other part 
of the fortifications had fallen into the hands of an enemy, 
this could generally vt^ithstand any attack that could be 
made by the engines of those 
times. Nevertheless, in order to 
make this keep even stronger, 
the lower part of the wall 
"battered," that is, it sloped 
outward at the base, while above 
the base rose what are known 
as machicolations. These were 
loUl heavy brackets supporting 
a sort of gallery with a parapet. 
In the floor of the gallery be- 
tween the machicolations were 
openings through which arrows 
could be shot downward or 
heavy stones could be dropped, or boiling water or oil 
or melted lead could be poured straight down upon the 
heads of the besiegers. It is thought that from the top 
of this keep another and smaller tower rose, and from 
that yet another, both probably built of wood. 

Joining the keep on the north was a building, K, which 

59 




KEEP OF CHATEAU GAILLARD 



When Knights were Bold 

is thought to have been the lodging of the castellan, or 
governor of the castle. From this building stairs descended 
to what was called the postern gate, L. This was a little 
narrow door with heavy bars. It was from this gate that 
spies or messengers were sent out in time of siege. To 
reach it from within, steps were cut in the rock for about 
thirty feet. To reach it from without must have been al- 
most impossible, for it opened upon the perpendicular 
face of the scarp. To let out a messenger or admit a friend, 
a ladder or a movable bridge was let down. Every castle 
had its postern, so that if the inmates were besieged, they 
might have some possible way of communication, dan- 
gerous as it was, with the outer world. ^| 

When one looks at the ruins of the castles of the Mid- 
dle Ages, one can hardly see how an enemy ever had the 
courage to attempt to capture one of them. Indeed, if 
a foe could spare the time and the men, it w^as usually 
easier and cheaper to keep close watch of it until the in- 
mates were starved into a surrender. No matter how full 
of food the storehouses might be, it would give out some 
time ; and if no assistance came from outside, the castle 
w^ould have to yield. If an attempt to subdue a castle w^as 
to be made, however, there were three common methods 
of attack. One was to force a way in through a gate if 

60 




THE ATTACK FROM A TOWER 



6i 



When Knights were Bold 

possible ; a second, to get to the top of the protecting 
wall and overpower the defenders ; and a third, to under- 
mine the walls. If the wall was neither too high nor too 
well guarded, the enemy could sometimes set up scaling 
ladders with their iron hooks and make a furious attack 
upon the defenders at the top, which they resisted as 
furiously with crowbars, and bills and boar spears. The 
best way to get to the top of a high and well-defended 
wall was to use the movable tower. This was a wooden 
shed several stories high and set upon rollers. When this 
was to be used, there was a busy running to and fro to 
collect turf and trunks of trees to throw into the moat. 
As soon as enough of these materials had been collected 
to choke up the moat and make a roadway across it, the 
great tower was rolled cumbrously across the moat and 
up to the wall. It was filled with men, and the moment 
that it was near enough to the rampart, a drawbridge 
was dropped from its upper story to the top of the wall. 
Over this bridge rushed the besiegers, and a terrible con- 
test was carried on. Of course the defenders did not sit 
quietly while the tower was being moved up. They threw 
upon it what was called Greek fire in the hope of setting 
it ablaze. Greek fire is thought to have been made of 
asphalt, nitre, and sulphur. Wherever it was thrown, there 

62 



How to Capture a Castle 

it stuck. It did little damage to these towers, however, 
for their makers had covered them carefully with plates 
of metal or with raw hides. Storms of arrows were shot 
by both sides ; but the men in the towxr were so w^ell 
protected by its walls that little harm was done them. 
When the tower was in place and the bridge down, the 
besiegers had one great advantage, for they could march 
out a whole column from the tower, while the defenders 
had seldom room on the wall for more than a thin line. 
A third way of attacking a castle was by attempting 
to undermine the walls. If these rested upon so rocky a 
foundation as that of the " Saucy Castle," the matter was 
far more difficult ; but if the ground was soft, a mine, or 
passage underground, could be begun at some distance 
away and dug under the very base of the wall. Beams 
were put in to support the wall, and straw, twigs, and 
dry wood were heaped up under them. The miners set 
this on fire and crept out of the hole as fast as possible. 
As soon as the beams were burned through, the wall 
above them generally fell, and through the breach the 
besiegers rushed in with good hope of wanning a victory. 
Mining did not always go on so smoothly, however, for 
it often happened that some one within the castle had 
ears so quick that he heard noises underground and sus- 

63 



When Knights were Bold 

pected what was being done. Then a counter-mine was 
dug from within outward in the hope of intercepting the 
other mine. The two passages sometimes met, and the 
fighting between the men underground was most furious 
and savage. 

If the castle had a firm rocky foundation, the only 
possible way to undermine the wall was by the use of 
the pickaxe. This was not easy when the defenders be- 
hind the parapets were shooting arrows and great stones 
and dropping boiling water or oil or melted lead down 
through the openings between the machicolations ; and 
if it was to succeed, there must be some sort of protec- 
tion for the men with the pickaxes. This protection was 
called the "cat," or in some places the "rat." It was 
shaped like a long, narrow house with side walls. The 
roof sloped sharply, so that the heavy stones and beams 
that would be thrown upon it from the top of the wall 
might roll off harmlessly. To protect it from fire, it was 
often covered with iron, and over this raw hides or wet 
earth was laid. Then, too, men within the structure were 
always on guard with long forks or poles whose ends 
were covered with pieces of wet blanket to thrust off 
firebrands. This was built in some place out of range of 
the arrows and stones and then moved up close to the 

64 



How to Capture a Castle 

wall. Under its shelter men could work in safety. 
They had a valuable tool in what was known as a 
" bosson." This was a battering ram, a long, heavy beam 
with an iron head. It was on wheels, and when the be- 
siegers rolled it up and dashed it against the wall, it 
struck with terrific force. The defenders on the top of the 
wall tried to break its head off by dropping heavy stones 
and timbers upon it; but the besiegers leaned strong poles 
against the wall in such a way that these slid off harm- 
lessly. The attempt to set it afire was usually hopeless, 
for it was kept thoroughly wet and was covered with 
mud. Sometimes, however, a narrow tunnel was dug as 
quietly as possible from within the fort out under the 
cat, and a barrel or two of Greek fire slipped beneath it. 
Then the defenders on the wall watched eagerly to see 
the flames burst out. They might well count the mo- 
ments, for at any instant the stone work under their feet 
might crumble. 

All this time both besiegers and defenders were con- 
stantly firing arrows at each other by hand and also by 
machines called ** balistas " which were like immense cross- 
bows and shot great arrows and javelins with tremendous 
force. To protect themselves from these the besiegers 
, used bucklers and also a sort of screen called a " mantelet " 

65 




THE BOSSON 



66 



How to Capture a Castle 

which they moved before them on wheels. In the screen 
was a narrow sHt through which they could send back a 
return fire. In the fourteenth century cannon were used 
to some extent, but they could fire only three or four 
shots an hour and had an unpleasant custom of explod- 
ing. Outside a fort, they were of some little value; but 
when the besieged ventured to mount them on the walls, 
the chief damage done was to their owners. Their recoil 
loosened the stones of the wall and frequently the can- 
non ingloriously rolled ofi\ The most important ma- 
chines were those for throwing stones, and these as well 
as the balistas were used by both besiegers and besieged. 
They were exceedingly powerful. Some of them could 
hurl for six hundred feet a stone weighing three hundred 
pounds. If they could only have worked rapidly, they 
would have done an immense amount of damage ; but it 
took several days to set one up, and the best of them could 
throw only a few stones in an hour. Moreover, it was 
impossible to take accurate aim. One of these machines 
was called a trebuchet. It consisted of two uprights con- 
nected at the top by a bar. Resting on the bar was a 
ponderous beam. The shorter arm of this beam was 
heavily weighted ; by using much force, the longer arm 
was slowly pulled down to the ground, and in a sort of 

67 



When Knights were Bold 

sling fastened to it a great stone was placed or perhaps 
a barrel of Greek fire. Then it was suddenly let go. The 
short arm dropped, and the stone was hurled with tre- 
mendous power. There were other machines, the man- 
gonel, catapult, espringal, etc., but they were not very 
dissimilar, and most of them resembled in principle 
either the balista or the trebuchet. 

Many romantic descriptions of taking castles have 
been written, but the real thing had little of romance 
about it. In a real siege the air was full of heavy stones, 
javelins, arrows, and darts, some bearing masses of blaz- 
ing pitch and tow with occasionally perhaps an arrow 
carrying a message from a traitor either within or with- 
out the walls to the opposing party, of barrels of the 
terrible Greek fire, of smoke from burning roofs and 
galleries and of crumbling mortar from falling ramparts. 
There was a wild and horrid confusion of terrible sounds, 
the din of armor, the shouting of battle cries, the groan- 
ing of dying men and the crash of falling stones and 
timbers and crumbling walls. Men shrieked in agony as 
they were burned by the boiling oil or melted pitch or 
blinded by the unslacked lime poured down upon them 
from the walls. The moat ran red with blood. Such 
was a real assault upon a castle in the Middle Ages. 

68 



How to Capture a Castle 

The storv of the fall of the Chateau Gaillard is full of 
interest. It was a pet child of King Richard, and in 1 1 98 
he called it " my fair daughter of one year old." King 
Philip of France declared, " I would take it if its walls 
were of iron." Richard retorted, "And I could hold it 
if they were of butter." Perhaps he could have done so, 
but one year later he was dead, and his brother John, who 
followed him, was a man of quite different mettle. Philip 
captured one after another of the Norman castles held 
by the English king, and at last he laid siege to Chateau 
Gaillard, the strongest of them all. This was early in 
the autumn of 1203. He captured the neighboring vil- 
lages and then, having cut off all supplies, settled down 
quietly before the Castle to wait till its inmates should 
be hungry enough to surrender. " They are young birds 
who will have to fly when spring comes," he said con- 
tentedly. 

A few months later, however, Philip became tired of 
watching. He succeeded in undermining the wall of the 
outer court and captured it. Among his followers was a 
poor man by the name of Ralph who was nicknamed 
Bogis, or the Snub-nose. Whatever may have been the 
shape of his nose, he had keen eyes. He noticed a little 
window, M, and began to wonder if he could not climb in 

69 



When Knights were Bold 

and open the way for the others. He and a few trusty 
comrades crept softly around the court until they stood 
under this window. Ralph stood upon the shoulders of 
one of his companions and looked in. No one was on 
guard at that place, and there were no protecting bars. 
He scrambled in, and found himself in either the chapel 
or a storehouse connected with it. The defenders dis- 
covered that their enemies were in the building and 
foolishly set fire to it. The flames spread and the garrison 
escaped to the inner court. Then Ralph let down the 
drawbridge and the besiegers poured in. So it was that 
by the keenness and daring of one man this middle court 
was taken. Such a deed as that was not left unrewarded, 
and to Ralph was given a "knight's fee," that is, suf- 
ficient land to maintain properly a knight and his fol- 
lowers. 

The inner court alone remained in the hands of the 
defenders. Philip's men moved up a cat over the cause- 
way at I, and in its shelter a mine was dug under the 
walls. A machine for throwing stones followed the cat. 
A breach was made in the heavy masonry and the be- 
siegers rushed in. The defenders were overpowered, and 
after a siege of six months the "Saucy Castle" fell. 
y-The Middle Ages were a time of almost constant war- 
/ 7 O 



When Knights were Bold 

fare. There were quarrels between kings, between kings 
and their barons, and among the barons themselves ; 
and all these quarrels implied fighting. The poor suf- 
fered severely, and the Church came to their rescue. 
The French bishops tried their best to bring about what 
was called the Peace of God. High and low were bidden 
to take an oath to refrain from making war. This served 
as some little protection for churches, priests, and labor- 
ers ; but, powerful as the Church was, it could not oblige 
the unruly barons to take the oath or keep it if it had 
been taken. Then the Church very wisely lessened her 
demands and called upon one and all to set apart certain 
portions of the year to be free from bloodshed. These 
were from Wednesday evening to Monday morning in 
every week, about twenty feast days of saints, and the 
seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter. The 
bishops and the rulers of France and to some degree of 
Germany, Italy, Spain, and England supported this de- 
cree, and as far as possible those who broke the rule were 
punished. The archbishop of Cologne made a rule that 
if this law was violated by any noble, his heirs might 
seize his property. A boy under twelve who fought was 
to be whipped ; if over twelve, he was to lose one hand. 
This rule of peace was called the Truce of God, and 

72 



How to Capture a Castle 

often as it was broken, it nevertheless did much to quiet 
the turbulent lands and 
protect the poor and help- 
less. 

Another way in which 
the Church tried to aid the 
oppressed was by establish- 
ing "sanctuaries," or holy 
places wherein it was for- 
bidden to shed blood. In 
those stormy times, if a 
man was supposed to have 
wronged another, that 
other pursued him, sword 
in hand. But if he took 
refuge in a church, he was safe ; for the clergy would 

keep him until some terms had 
been made between the two. 
This was called the right of sanc- 
tuary. It was an excellent thing 
so long as there was little real 
authority in the land ; but after 
it had become established that an 
accused man would be brought to 




SANCTUARY DOOR 




KNOCKER 



73 



When Knights were Bold 

trial, then the right often became an occasion of wrong. 
If a man who had fled to a sanctuary would confess, he 
was allowed to "abjure the realm," that is, to swear to 
depart from the land and never return, a punishment 
which was a little hard on the neighboring countries. 
If he refused to confess, the law was helpless ; for the 
clergy would brook no interference with their right of 
giving shelter and protection. The result was that a man 
who carefully planned a murder and was shrewd enough 
to commit it within easy reach of a church could escape ; 
while one who committed a crime on the spur of the 
moment had far less chance to avoid the penalty. Never- 
theless, the right of sanctuary was not entirely abolished 
in England until the eighteenth century. 



CHAPTER V 

Daily Life in a Castle 

The Chateau Gaillard was built primarily for a fortifica- 
tion ; but in general a castle was meant for a dwelling- 
place as well as a fortress, and its keep was the home of 
the master and his family. Their life was not always so 
narrow and cramped as one might fancy. Some castles, / 

to be sure, consisted of little more than a single strong 
tower and a moat ; but in others the outer court was large 
enough to contain not only a garden, a poultry yard, and 
a watermill, but also a lake or fishpond for a time of 
siege, an orchard, and even cultivated fields. This outer 
court was sometimes almost like a village, for there was 
often a forge, a bakery, a carpenter's shop, a falconry, 
and a stable, besides houses and a church. In the inner 
court there was frequently a chapel also ; but this church 
more than once served a double purpose. It was sure 
to suffer if the castle was stormed ; and then a messenger 
was let down from the postern gate to make his way to 
friends and report that a sacrilegious enemy was attack- 
ing the Church of God. If they would then win the 

IS 



When Knights were Bold 

favor of the Church authorities, they must hasten to the 
rescue. 

The centre of the daily Hfe of the castle was the large 
room known as the hall. This varied greatly at different 
times and in different places. In the earlier days, the hall 
was only a bare room with some flat stones in the centre. 
On these meat was cooked, and the smoke found its way 
out through a hole in the roof as best it could. As time 
passed and towers were built of several stories, fireplaces, 
with flues were made. The floor was tiled and strewn 
with rushes. The walls were hung with banners, tapestry, 
and standards bright with armorial bearings. Here and 
there were shields and armor or a cluster of lances. Long 
oaken tables with wooden benches stood ready for use, or 
else before each meal trestles were brought in, and boards 
were laid upon them, for in those days " the festive board " 
was a literal board. The table of the master of the castle 
stood at one end of the hall. This place was called the 
dais. At the opposite end of the room was a wooden 
gallery for musicians, built halfway up the wall. 

When bedtime came, coarse mattresses were laid on 
the floor ; for here the people of the household and 
their guests were to pass the night. The bed of the noble 
and his wife stood at the farther end of the hall, separated 

76 



Daily Life in a Castle 

from the rest of the room by curtains ; but later, when 
other stories were added, a room for them and also other 
bedrooms were built, some on the upper floors and some 
in the thickness of the walls. In the simpler castles the 




A BED-CHAMBER 



furnishings of these bedrooms were few and plain, hardly 
more than one or more beds, a bench or two, and a 
wooden chest ; but in the dwellings of the wealthy there 
was considerable display. The posts of the beds were 
sometimes gilded, inlaid with ivory, or ornamented with 
precious stones ; and the bed coverings were of silk or fur 

11 



When Knights were Bold 

with a golden fringe. There was also a wardrobe made 
gorgeous with bright colors. The chests were handsomely 
carved, and for jewels there were smaller chests covered 
with leather. Frequently there was in one corner a richly 
ornamented shrine enclosing a relic of some saint. It is 
said that in Italy the beds were often put high up on 
trestles to escape the rats and mice. 

There was a certain rude magnificence about the place, 
but there was not what the people of to-day would call 
comfort. For instance, those heavy stone walls must have 
been cold, but in England, even so late as the fifteenth 
century, a fire in one's bedroom was regarded as a fool- 
ish indulgence ; and the rooms were certainly not so light 
as we wish our rooms to be. It was not safe to make the 
windows too large, and even a window of generous size 
would not let in much sunshine if cut into a wall ten or 
fifteen feet in thickness. The rooms were often made 
more cheerful, however, by decorations of red and yellow 
and blue, or by paintings of flowers and leaves, conven- 
tionally treated and decidedly crude, but bright and 
cheery. 

In those wardrobes and richly carved chests in the bed- 
rooms there was no lack of expensive clothes. In the 
fourteenth century England tried her best to keep her 

78 



Daily Life in a Castle 

people from extravagance in dress and to oblige them to 
wear goods of English weaving. Parliament decreed that 
no one but the king, queen, and their children should be 
allowed to wear imported cloth, 
and that no one should wear foreign 
furs or silks unless he had a yearly- 
rent of ^loo. In the fourteenth 
century, ;^ioo would buy as much 
as several times that amount to-day, 
so that a man had to be very well 
to do before the law would permit 
him and his family to dress as they 
chose. 

The fashions changed as ex- 
tremely, if not quite so rapidly, as 
to-day. Toward the end of this 
century, English ladies wore tight- 
fitting dresses with long, full skirts, costume of time of 

_,- , , - ,. CHARLES III 

1 he sleeves were tight, extendmg 

down to the knuckles, and with sixty or seventy buttons 
on each arm. A few years later, buttons were no longer 
seen on the sleeves, and the sleeves themselves came only 
to the wrist. They grew larger and looser, so loose that 
finally a second pair, made to fit closely, were worn under 

79 




When Knights were Bold 

them. Tightly fitting jackets were introduced and were 
worn with full skirts of some other color. The only rule 
in regard to wearing colors was apparently to have plenty 
of them. A blue petticoat, displayed by lifting a purple 
skirt adorned with a broad yellow band and worn with an 
ermine-trimmed jacket, was evidently regarded as being 
in most excellent taste ; and apparently a combination of 
long, loose robe of blue, yellow girdle, red cloak, and red 
shoes was felt to be above criticism. At several periods dur- 
ing the Middle Ages it was in the height of the mode for 
a lady of rank to wear a dress presenting the coat of arms 
of her husband's family and her own ; but it must have been 
a w^ee bit startling to see a noble dame appear in a dress 
white on one side with some conventional figures in black, 
and yellow on the other side with a gorgeous red lion ram- 
pant for ornament. This costume w^as completed by a 
tight blue jacket trimmed with ermine, a close red cap, 
and a crown. 

But of all the remarkable fashions, those pertaining 
to the headdress w^ere the most astounding. In the thir- 
teenth century and again in later times, married women 
wore the wimple, that is, a covering of linen or silk ar- 
ranged in folds over the chin, neck, and the sides of the 
face; but this gradually disappeared in favor of even 

80 



Daily Life in a Castle 

more surprising modes. At one time the hair was put 
smoothly into a net, often made of thread of gold; then 
it was so puffed out at the sides that a fashionable lady had 
the appearance of wearing horns. These grew higher and 
higher, but at length a 
steeple-shaped cap took 
their place. This was 
followed by one made 
of wire and various sorts 
of thin material put to- 
gether in such a way 
that the cap stood out on 
either side of the head 
like the wings of an 
enormous butterfly. An- 
other style of headdress 
was made like a giant 
cornucopia, and was 
worn slanting up and 
back. From this hung a sort of drapery that floated over 
the shoulders; and from its highest point a long scarf 
streamed down the lady's back to the floor. One sort of 
headdress was shaped like a harp, one like a heart, one 
like a tower with battlements, from the top of which a 

8i 




COSTUME OF THE I5TH CENTURY 



When Knights were Bold 

long white veil floated. One was like a large crescent 
with a generous amount of drapery, and one looked ex- 
actly as if two large napkins had been shaken out and 
hung by their centres. over long sticks which in some 
marvelous way were made to stand firm in my lady's 
hair. 

The heads of the men were free from such wild freaks 
of fashion, but they, too, delighted in bright colors. A long 
loose gown of brilliant red, its full sleeves lined with er- 
mine and half concealing another pair which were blue 
and tight, the trimming of the whole of the most daz- 
zling yellow, was thought to be a quiet but appropriate 
costume for a king. This garb was completed by a sort 
of fez worn on the head, red and with red drapery hang- 
ing around it well banded with yellow. Small attention 
was paid to cleanliness. The English thought the French 
exceedingly extravagant because they changed their ruf- 
fles once a week and put on clean shirts once a fort- 
night. 

For men as well as for women strict laws were made, 
even if they were not strictly obeyed. Toward the end 
of the fourteenth century serving men in England were 
forbidden to wear cloth costing more than two marks, 
that is, sixteen ounces of silver, apiece. Men practicing 

82 



Daily Life in a Castle 

any handicraft might wear cloth only and no jewelry ; 
while if their wives ventured to wear any fur save that 
of Iamb, coney, cat, and fox, they were in danger of get- 




LADIES OF THE I4TH CENTURY 

ting into trouble. Squires whose income from land was 
two hundred marks a year were allowed to wear cloth 
of silver and a " reasonable " amount of silver ornamenta- 
tion. A gentleman with the same income, but not a 

83 



When Knights were Bold 

squire, was limited to cloth, and even a " reasonable " 
amount of jewelry was forbidden him. Even a knight 
with an annual income of ^^200 was forbidden to wear 
cloth of gold and the ermine and minever, or perhaps 
squirrel, that were sacred to royalty. Shoes were worn 
with pointed toes so long that they had to be fastened 
to the knees with slender chains of gold or silver. Laws 
were passed limiting the length of those toes to two 
inches ; but sumptuary laws, as laws concerning dress are 
called, are rarely obeyed ; and while the lawmakers con- 
tinued to make them, the people moved on serenely and 
broke as many of them as their purses or their credit 
would permit. To the humbler folk it was a mark of 
rising in the world to dress themselves a little more 
richly than the law permitted ; and as for the great folk, 
it would have been strange enough if these people so 
independent in other affairs had shown themselves meek 
and yielding in the matter of the clothes that they put 
on their own backs and paid for out of their own pock- 
ets. The wearers of the crown hardly set them an ex- 
ample of simplicity, for it is said that Richard II had a 
coat of cloth of gold decorated with precious stones 
which was worth thirty thousand marks. His nobles had 
no hesitation in following the lead of their lord, and 

84 



Daily Life in a Castle 

it is claimed that one of them had two hundred and 
fifty ** new sutes of apparell of cloth of gold or tissue." 
Such was the dress of the day, and the sombre old stone 
walls of the castles must have afforded a most excellent 
background for its display. 

These brilliant costumes were not for everyday wear, 
however, for even in a fortified castle there were com- 
mon days and a home life. The hall was the centre of 
this home life, the general living room, as has been said. 
Of course its size varied greatly according to the wealth 
and wishes of the master of the castle. One hall is de- 
scribed as being able to hold one thousand men. Others 
were small ; but whether their dimensions were wide or 
narrow, the general character did not alter. For seats 
there were chairs and benches, and sometimes handsome 
cushions on the floor, and there was always a fireplace, 
for many generations in the centre of the room, wherein 
big round logs blazed and glowed. Even the best of fires 
in an open fireplace, however, are inclined to " burn the 
face and freeze the back," and the tapestry on the walls 
served a useful purpose in adding to the comfort of the 
hall. In the castles of wealthy nobles, these hangings 
were sometimes made of brocade or cloth of gold and 
silver brought from the East; but in the fifteenth cen- 

85 



When Knights were Bold 

tury very handsome tapestries were woven in Europe, 
especially in Flanders, in what is now called Belgium, 
and at Arras in northern France, Indeed, the Arras tap- 
estry came into so common use that Shakespeare says 
"behind the arras," when he means behind the tapestry. 
Some tapestry was simple, but that which was made for 
kings and princes and cathedrals was often most elabo- 
rate. It pictured scenes from the Bible or from the lives 
of saints or from hunting and hawking or from some of 
the romances which were such a delight to the people 
of the Middle Ages. 

Early in the morning the watchman of the castle 
sounded his horn from the battlements of the keep to 
say that the sun had risen and all was well. The day 
was short, for people in general did not sit up very long 
after the five o'clock supper. The dinner hour was from 
nine to eleven in the forenoon. In the hall were held 
the mighty feasts in which the noble appetites of the 
day so rejoiced. What would a modern caterer say to a 
bill of fare that began boldly with venison, a quarter of 
bear, and the shoulder of a wild boar, and worked its 
way valiantly onward through a course of roasted pea- 
cocks and swans, a second of poultry, and a third of 
waterfowl and small game to venison and pheasant pasties 

86 




A DINNER IN THE HALL 



87 



When Knights were Bold 

and pigeon pie ? By the time that this was reached, the 
feast was fairly under way, and the guests were well pre- 
pared for such trifles as shad, salmon, mullet, and eel- 
pie, the last a special favorite. After this came pastry 
of all sorts and sweetmeats, then cloves, ginger, and 
other spices. These made people ravenously thirsty, and 
they were quite ready for the big cups of wdne mixed 
with honey or spice that now appeared. The young 
pages of the castle attended upon the guests, but the 
heavier waiting Was done by stalwart serving men. 

A feast like this was only a simple repast compared 
with that served in 1403 at the marriage of Henry IV. 
There were only six courses, but a course included an 
amazing collection of eatables. The second course, for 
instance, comprised venison served wdth frumenty, a dish 
made of milk, sugar, and wheat; jelly; sucking pigs; 
rabbits; bitterns; stuffed hens; partridges; leach, that is, 
a mixture of cream, sugar, almonds, and isinglass; and 
boiled meat of some sort. The course ended, as did 
every course, with what was called a " sotelte," or 
subtlety. This was somewhat like what is known to-day 
as a " float," only on a very small scale. One that was 
served at this feast was an image of a pelican sitting on 
her nest with her young ones, and beside it Saint Cath- 

88 



Daily Life in a Castle 

erine holding a book in her hand and disputing with 
the doctors. Another much more elaborate was made 
for the coronation of Henry VI. In this, the Child 
Jesus sits on his mother's knees. Saint George and Saint 
Denis kneel one on either side. King Henry bears in 
his hand a petition for the favor of the " Blessyd Lady, 
Cristes moder dere." These subtleties were made of sugar 
or pastry and added much to the interest of the feast. 
In general, however, the glory of a banquet consisted 
not in nicety of cooking and elegance of serving, but 
rather in providing unlimited quantities and countless 
varieties of food. The peacock and the swan were looked 
upon as the most luxurious dishes of the age. The pea- 
cock was carefully skinned, then roasted ; but before he 
was brought to the table, his skin was fastened around 
him with skewers. An old recipe for serving the swan 
is as follows : — 

Make a stiff bed of paste about the thickness of your thumb 
and color it green. Comb it out, and it will look like a meadow 
of green grass. Take your swan and gild him over with gold ; 
then have a kind of loose, flying cloak of a vermilion color 
within and painted with arms without ; then set the swan upon 
this bed, cover some part of him with the cloak, stick about 
him small banners upon little sticks, the banners painted 

89 



When Knights were Bold 

with the arms most agreeable to the people seated at the 
table. 



As time passed, less meat and more vegetables were 
used. The bread was of various sorts. In England the 
best and finest was marked with the figure of Christ and 
was called " Our Lord's bread." There were at least two 
grades of bread below this, not counting the ** wastel 
bread," a very coarse brown bread. Wine was much in 
evidence, but the everyday drinks were difi^erent varieties 
of ale or mead. 

The dishes used at table varied as greatly as they do 
in the homes of to-day. The cups or goblets were hand- 
some when the expense could be afforded. They were 
made of gold or silver and beautifully ornamented with 
precious stones. Often a feast was lighted by men ranged 
along the walls of the room, bearing flaming torches ; 
and the jewels must have gleamed and flashed in the 
ever-changing glare. People ate from trenchers, or rude 
plates. At first, thick slices of stale bread were used ; 
then trenchers were made of wood and were kept meas- 
urably clean by being scoured with ashes. People of 
the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries were 
well content to eat two at a trencher. The phrase, " a 

90 



Daily Life in a Castle 

valiant trencher man," was the literal description of 
a man with a good appetite — and appetites were good 




A KING S FEAST 



in those days. Even in the sixteenth century, Anne 
Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII, regretted that she could 
eat for breakfast only half a pound of bacon and drink 

91 



When Knights were Bold 

only half a tankard of ale. She ascribed her loss of 
appetite to the late hours that she was keeping, "being 
scarcely in bed before ten," she lamented. 

The serving dishes were made of wood, pewter, sil- 
ver, or gold, according to the wealth of the master of 
the castle. Knives and spoons and fingers were used as 
weapons of table warfare. Forks were in use in Italy, 
but it was well into the seventeenth century or even 
later before they became at all common in the other 
countries of Europe. For a long while they were looked 
upon in monasteries as a foolish and sinful luxury. An 
Englishman who traveled in Italy in the early part of 
the seventeenth century was pleased with the custom, 
" seeing that all men's fingers are not alike clean," as he 
said pathetically, and he brought home one of these 
new implements for his own use ; whereupon one, a 
merry friend of his, persisted in calling him the " furci= 
fer," or fork-bearer. For folk who were not "fork- 
bearers," water and towels were passed around several 
times during a feast. The table linen was clean and 
plentiful ; but the floor was covered with rushes, with 
bones and other refuse, and perhaps had not been swept 
for twenty years. A feast in a nobleman's castle was a 
grotesque medley of splendor and filth. 

92 



Daily Life in a Castle 

No entertainment was looked upon as complete with- 
out music. This was provided by minstrels. They used 
a sort of violin, and also the harp, lute, guitar, bagpipe, 
flute, and double-flute, horn, and trumpet, and some- 
times the drum, tambourine, cymbals, and handbells. A 
noble usually had one or more minstrels in his service, 




THE MUSICIANS 



who wore at their girdles his badge, a little scutcheon 
engraved with his coat of arms. While the great folk 
feasted, the minstrels played and sang, sometimes in 
their own gallery, sometimes, on less formal occasions, 
from seats on the floor, or even on the edge of the table. 
They sang merry little ballads and favorite bits from the 
longer poems glorifying the noble deeds of heroes, and 
they also gave long recitations from the romances that the 
people of those times found so thrillingly entertaining. 

93 



When Knights were Bold 

Besides the minstrels who were members of noble 
households, there were also the wandering singers, some 
of good family, who became minstrels for a time in or- 
der to gratify a taste for roving. Many of these had real 
talent, and they roamed through the lands, sure of a 
friendly greeting, a cup of wine, and a generous meal 




THE JUGGLERS 



wherever they might go. If the minstrel's songs were 
pleasing to the lord of the castle, the singer went away 
rejoicing in a goodly sum of money. If neither the lord 
nor his guests were liberally inclined, many minstrels 
were not above stopping in the midst of their song or 
story and saying, " If you wish to hear any more of this 
poem, you must make haste to open your purses." Min- 
strels were free to go where they w^ould, for all classes 
of people welcomed them. It is told of Alfred the 

94 



Daily Life in a Castle 

Great that he disguised himself as a wandering singer 
and went fearlessly into the camp of his enemies. 
Whether this is doubtful or not in the case of Alfred, it 
was certainly true in many other cases; for at the sound 
of a harp or violin the good folk of the Middle Ages 
seemed to lay aside all caution and for- 
get all danger. 

Besides music, other entertainment 
was provided for the guests at these 
banquets by jugglers, or sleight-of-hand 
performers, who went through acro- 
batic feats and the old tricks of balanc- 
ing weights on long poles, tossing up 
balls and keeping several up in the air 
at the same time, exhibiting trained 
bears, and carrying on any sort of jest- 
ing that seemed to amuse their audience. 
A similar entertainment was provided by the " fool " of 
the castle, for kings and wealthy men were in the habit 
of keeping a jester who was known by that name. He 
often wore a cap and bells or a costume half one color 
and half another, or even shaved half his hair and 
half his beard to suit the rather crude ideas of what was 
considered comical. His joking was frequently coarse 

95 




ACROBATS 



When Knights were Bold 

and rough, but it was to the point, for only a keen, 
shrewd man could play well the part of fool. In Shake- 
speare's dramas 
it happens more 
than once that 
the fool mani- 
fests more close- 
ness of observa- 
tion and more 
common sense 
than any one else 
in the play. 

Among these 
strolling com- 
panies of singers 
a n d j ugglers 
there were also 
women dancers, 
who met with 
great favor. The 
popular notion of a dexterous dancer was one who could 
support herself on her hands while her feet were high 
up in the air. If she could rest her hands on two swords 
and still maintain her equilibrium, that was indeed skill, 

96 




A JESTER 



Daily Life in a Castle 

and the spectators shouted their applause and threw their 
coins with deHght. 

But the hall was far more than a mere place of feast- 
ing. Here sat the lady of the castle and her maidens. 




A BEDROOM PARTY 



daughters of other noble families who had come to her 
to learn housewifery just as their brothers had come to 
her husband to learn to become knights. These young 
girls were taught to manage a household, to sew and em- 
broider, to card wool and spin and weave. They learned 

97 



When Knights were Bold 

to say the prayers of the Church, to sing, and to play sim- 
ple accompaniments on the harp or viol. A little of 
astronomy too, they learned, enough at least to name a 
few of the constellations ; possibly a little of reading and 
writing, and more than a little of falconry. They must 

ride well, of course, for to 
make a poor appearance 
in the hunting field or in 
practicing the " mystery of 
rivers" would be indeed a 
disgrace. One thing they 
were taught with especial 
thoroughness, and that was 
enough of surgery and medi- 
cine and nursing to care for 
a wounded knight. Some- 
what of warfare, too, they must know; for when the 
lord of the castle was away, it was his wife who must 
command the men at arms and either save or lose her 
home. The girls of the castle played checkers, chess, 
backgammon, and battledoor and shuttlecock, they had 
their pet birds, magpies, larks, and sometimes parrots, 
or popinjays, as they were called. Falcons were pets as 
well as hunters, and often made their entrance into society 

98 




LADY AT LOOM 



Daily Life in a Castle 

perched upon the wrists of their mistresses. The maidens 
of the Middle Ages Uked to go on picnics, to dance, and 
to wear their best clothes ; they enjoyed putting on 
jeweled belts and pretty ornaments and soft furs and 
dainty silks just as much as any 
girls of to-day, and they were just 
as delighted when there was to 
be a tournament as girls are to- 
day at the prospect of any enter- 
tainment. 

All sor^s of folk came into the 
hall. In many places the poor 
of the neighborhood came every 
morning to ask for bread. If any 
fighting was near at hand — and 
the chief business of the time 
was fighting and hunting — a 
wounded man often made his way to the castle to beg 
for help and care. Sometimes, as has been said, a 
knight errant called to the porter at the gate and bade 
him bear a friendly challenge to the other knights within 
the walls. Then followed a deHghtful confusion. The 
lists were staked out in some meadow near the castle or 
perhaps in the outer court. The crowd of followers and 

99 




FALCONRY 



When Knights were Bold 

dependents of the lord flocked about the ropes, and the 
ladies of the castle waved bright-colored scarfs from win- 
dows and battlements. Vassals, or those who held land of 
the master of the castle on condition of service, came to 
"pay homage," that is, to kneel before him, their hands 
clasped in his, and promise to be faithful to him. Trav- 




LADIES PLAYING GAMES 



eling merchants came to open their packs and reveal the 
dazzling fabrics of the East. Pilgrims who had wandered 
through many lands in order to visit some holy place 
were always going to and fro and always welcome. When 
ten or eleven o'clock had come, the horn was blown, 
the long tables were spread, and all gathered around 
them, whether rich or poor, noble or simple. Those to 

lOO 



Daily Life in a Castle 

whom special honor was to be shown were seated 
"above the salt," that is, near the lord's end of the table 
and separated from the common folk by an elaborate salt- 
cellar. After the meal, there were games — chess, back- 
gammon, cards, and checkers — and also music and danc- 




DANCING 



ing. Every visitor had some story to tell ; the dogs lay 
about the hearth, and now and then one pricked up his 
ears and wagged his tail sleepily when he heard his mas- 
ter praise some exploit of his in the hunt. The flames 
blazed up merrily, and the gloomy hall became bright 
and cheerfal. It was the very heart of home, and when 
a wounded knight lay dying in some foreign land, it was 
his own hall, which he should never see again, of which 
he thought with eager longing. 

lOI 



CHAPTER VI 

Life on a Manor 

During the greater part of the Middle Ages, most of 
the land was held by "feudal tenure," that is, on con- 
dition of service. Everybody needed service of some 
sort. A king might own vast areas of land; but unless 
the nobles would fight for him, he could not keep it 
from his enemies. The nobles might hold wide estates, 
but they were worthless unless men could be found to 
cultivate them. As for the " common people," their 
first and foremost need was protection. So it was that 
the feudal system grew up. The king would agree to 
grant land to a noble provided the noble would become 
his "vassal." To do this, the noble was obliged to go 
to the king's court and kneel before him. The king 
then held the clasped hands of the noble in his own and 
asked, " Do you wish to become my man ?" The noble 
replied, " I do." The king then kissed him in token 
of confidence and acceptance, and the noble took a 
solemn oath on the Gospels or relics of the saints to be 
faithful. This ceremony was called "doing homage." 

I02 



Life on a Manor 



It bound the king to aid and protect the noble and not 
to interfere with his control of the land in his hands. 
It bound the noble to be faithful to the king and to 
fight for him when fighting was necessary, and to pro- 




BELSAY CASTLE 

vide at his own expense a fixed number of followers. 
For the king to demand money and for the noble to 
pay it would have seemed to both of them somewhat 
humiliating; but to follow his king in battle and to be 
loyal to him was quite in accordance with the taste and 

103 



When Knights were Bold 

training of the noble. Even in later times, as the de- 
mand for a military force increased, the king did not 
venture to suggest paying wages to knights to fight for 
him. Instead of that, "money-fiefs" were invented; that 
is, a fixed sum was paid to vassals yearly on condition 
of their performing military service. This was exactly 
the same as hiring soldiers, but calling the arrangement 
a fief, the name given to a grant of land, saved the pride 
of the knights, and gave the king his soldiers. 

The military service required of a vassal was generally 
limited to forty days in a year. If more was needed, the 
king must pay all expenses. If the military service was 
to be rendered in a foreign country, the noble was free 
to come home at the end of forty days. He must also 
help the king by his advice, and must submit in any law- 
suit of his own to the decision of the king and his fellow j 
vassals, and he must provide entertainment for the king 
when on a journey. On three occasions he was expected to 
assist the king with money, but this was never called pay- 
ment or rent for land, it was always spoken of as " aid." 
These occasions were: i. When the king's eldest son 
was made a knight; 2. When the king's eldest daughter 
was married; 3. When the king had been taken prisoner 
by some foreign power and it was necessary to ransom him. 

104 



Life on a Manor 

In theory, the king had a right to take back the grant 
of land ; but unless a vassal was unfaithful, it was seldom 
to his advantage to do so. If one vassal was wronged by 
another, he might appeal to their king; but it was in 
most cases a long way to the royal court, it was dan- 
gerous to leave one's castle exposed to an enemy, and it 
was more simple and direct for the two nobles to fight 
it out. If a vassal died, it was generally for the gain of 
both parties that his eldest son should take the father's 
place as vassal. The lord imposed a tax, however, called 
"heriot," usually the best beast of the dead man. The 
son, too, was required to pay a tax, or ** relief," on 
taking possession of the land in his father's stead. The 
accepted belief was that every fief should supply to the 
king the service of a man. If the vassal's son was a child 
at his father's death, the king brought him up; but to 
make good the loss of a fighting man, he kept the in- 
come of the fief until the boy was old enough to per- 
form a knight's service. If the vassal left only a widow 
or a daughter, she must pay a fine to the king if she did 
not wish to marry. If she was willing to marry, the 
king had the right to select her husband. This was to 
prevent her from choosing a man who might perhaps 
be an enemy to the king. 

105 



When Knights were Bold 

This was the " feudal system," or rather it was the 
beginning of it. It is quite probable that in many- 
countries, at some time in their history, land has been 
held by this method. Of course it was not decided upon 
and the land divided in a moment in any country, but 
the custom grew up gradually. The system was in reality 
a perfect network of lords and vassals, for not only were 
the nobles vassals of the king, but they themselves had 
vassals, and those vassals had others who had paid hom- 
age to them. Indeed, a man might do homage to a num- 
ber of men for separate pieces of land. In that case, 
however, he owed military duty to but one of them, and 
this one was known as his "liege" lord. The vassal 
was not looked upon as in any degree inferior to the 
lord. A king might rule one country and yet pry hom- 
age to the ruler of another for his fief in that land. 
When William the Norman conquered England, he 
took possession of the country much as if it had been his 
own big farm. He allowed those who yielded to him 
to retain their land on payment of large fees. The rest 
of it he divided among his followers as fiefs. But William 
was Duke of Normandy, and therefore he himself paid 
homage to the French king for his Norman land. This 
descended from one English ruler to another; but when 

io6 



Life on a Manor 

John came to the throne, the French king, Philip II, 
declared that he was a disobedient and unfaithful vassal, 
and took it away by capturing the Chateau Gaillard and 
his other strongholds. 

There were several ways in which smaller amounts 
of land came into the hands of the nobles. The Church 
held large areas; but the clergy were forbidden to wield 
the sword, therefore parts of their holdings were some- 
times let to knights on condition of their providing the 
required number of soldiers. Again, this was a time of 
fighting and bloodshed, of danger and violence; and 
many a man who owned a bit of freehold could not 
protect it. In that case he would often " commend " 
himself to some powerful man ; that is, he would pro- 
mise to be faithful to him and be his loyal vassal. He 
now had a strong arm to defend him, and he was sure 
of food and clothes. The result of all this was that by 
the thirteenth century it might almost be said, " No 
land without a lord." 

But manors were of small value unless they were cul- 
tivated. In these days, if a man owns a large farm, he 
hires laborers to work on it ; but in the Middle Ages the 
cultivation of the land was managed in quite a different 
fashion. Nothing has been said as yet of the " common 

107 



When Knights were Bold 

folk," the many thousand people who were neither 
clergy nor nobles. They were the ones who did the work 
of the manors. They were of various ranks. A few were 
slaves, and were looked upon as having no more rights 
than a horse or a cow. Above these were the villeins. 
They could not be sold like slaves, but if a manor passed 
from one lord to another, they went with it. Each vil- 
lein held a definite amount of land, and was required to 
pay for its use partly in money or in produce and partly 
in labor. The villeins were divided into several classes, 
each having some special rights or some exemption from 
undesirable duties which was of great value to them. 
Above these were the free tenants. They paid for the 
use of their land, sometimes in service and sometimes 
entirely in money. 

The buildings on a manor were the manor house, in 
which either the lord or his agent lived ; the tiny cottages 
of the tenants ; a church ; a windmill ; and the various 
barns and other outbuildings needed. The manor house 
stood a little apart from the others. It was usually of 
stone, but its character depended in great degree upon the 
location. In England, for instance, the important houses 
near the Scottish border were built strong enough to serve 
as forts; and, indeed, most of the larger houses in the more 

108 







1-^ h 



109 



When Knights were Bold 

level parts of the country were surrounded by moats and 
had various means of defense. In the simpler houses there 
was a hall, and adjoining it a kitchen. On the other 
side of the hall and up a flight of stairs was the "solar." 
This was the bedroom and parlor of the lord and his wife. 
The rest of the household and their guests slept in the 
hall or in the stables or in any other place where they 
would be under a roof, even one thatched with reeds 
from the pond. As time passed, houses were built with 
more rooms, often enough to enclose a courtyard on 
three sides, while the fourth was shut in by a wail. 
Around the whole structure was a moat with a draw- 
bridge. The windows were small, there were turrets and 
other places from which arrows might be shot in safety ; 
in short, these manor houses were in many respects al- 
most as well fortified as real castles. The cottages were 
ranged along the one street of the manor, miserable little 
one-room sheds of clay, the roofs thatched with straw 
stubble and having neither windows nor chimneys. 

The land of the manor was cultivated in three large 
fields. Usually one produced wheat or barley and one 
oats, while the third lay fallow. The second year the 
field that had lain fallow was planted, and another field 
had a time of rest. This was an extravagant manner of 

I lO 



Life on a Manor 

farming, for one third of the land was always idle, but 
men had not fully learned how to enrich the soil, and 
therefore they were forced to allow it to rest. Each ten- 
ant had a larger or smaller share in these fields ; but the 
land was divided in a peculiar fashion. It was marked off 
into long, narrow strips, generally about forty rods long 
and four rods wide, separated from one another by strips 
of unploughed turf called "balks." The holdings of 
the different tenants were scattered over the manor, and 
much time must have been wasted in going from one 
to another. A man who held thirty acres, or a virgate, 
might have to care for land in thirty or more different 
places. Even the land which the lord of the manor re- 
served for himself was scattered in the same way. The 
use of clover and the grasses which can be cultivated in 
dry places and stored away for winter was not known, 
therefore the meadow land of the manor was of great 
value. There was always a common pasture in which 
sheep and cattle might range ; and there was woodland, 
wherein the tenants' pigs might find food for them- 
selves. 

The tenants were obliged to grind their grain in the 
lord's mill, bake their bread in his oven, press their grapes 
in his winepress, and of course pay a good price for the 

III 



When Knights were Bold 

privileges. They must pay for letting their pigs run in 
the forest, for cutting wood, and often for catching fish, 
and for the use of their lord's weights and measures. They 
paid him a share of what they raised, and they paid one 
tenth of their income to the Church besides fees at every 
birth, baptism, marriage, and death. Even what was left 
of their produce they were forbidden to sell until the pro- 
duce of their lord's land had been sold. This land, or the 
" demesne," they were obliged to cultivate, each villein 
doing an amount of work in proportion to the area which 
he held. The lists of the men and the work required of 
each were called " extents." An extent usually stated, 
first, the size of the manor and how it w^as divided, how 
many acres of arable land, pasture, meadow, and w^ood- 
land it contained, and how often the manor court was 
accustomed to meet. Then came the list of the tenants, 
what rent they paid, and what work was required of 
them. On one of the English manors, for instance, there 
wxre seven free tenants. One of them was the son of a 
knight. He held eighteen acres and paid for his land 
thirty-six pence a year. Apparently these free tenants 
were not obliged to do any work on the demesne. Some 
of the villein tenants, however, had to do so many kinds 
of work that it is a wonder how they knew when it 

112 




PLAN OF A MANOR 



^^3 



When Knights were Bold 

was finished. One poor man had to work for his land 
three days a week for eleven months of the year, save for 
a week at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, and find 
his own food. He must weed, help plough and mow, carry 
in hay, reap, and haul grain. It was carefully stated 
just when the lord would provide food for him and how 
much and what kind. When this man and the other 
villeins were mowing, they were allowed three bushels 
of wheat, one ram worth eighteen pence, one jar of but- 
ter, and one cheese " next to the best from the dairy of 
the lord," and salt and oatmeal for their porridge, and 
all the morning milk. They had also several definite 
perquisites while they were doing this work ; for in- 
stance, at the close of each day every man might have as 
much green grass as he could carry on the point of his 
scythe; and when the hay was in, he might have a cart- 
ful. At harvest time, each worker might have three 
handfuls for every load of grain that he brought in. Be- 
sides the weekly work during the greater part of the 
year, there were also " boon-works " in time of plough- 
ing, planting, and harvest. For these, the tenant must 
leave his own land, often when it needed him most, and 
give his time to that of his lord. In short, more than one 
half of the time of the average villein had to be given to 

114 



Life on a Manor 

the lord of the manor. Just how some of the dues were 
paid is a little confusing. One tenant, for instance, was 
bound to pay the lord every Christmas "one hen and a 
half, the hen being of the price of one and one half 
pence." Several women held land on the same terms as 
the men. The extent also stated the value of the rents, the 
hens given to the lord, the use of the mill, the right to fish, 
and all the service performed by the tenants ; and it told 
where the pillory and ducking-stool stood. In this case, 
there was more than one reason to avoid these instru- 
ments of punishment, for they were placed next to the 
lord's pigstye. 

Legal questions often arose on a manor, land was 
transferred from one person to another, fines were to be 
imposed, crimes were to be punished, and to decide 
these matters a court was held regularly. This was con- 
venient for the tenants, but it can hardly have been in- 
variably just, for the lord or his agent was the judge, and 
he generally had a personal interest in the cases. More- 
over, the various fines and fees went straight into his 
own purse, and that must have made it a temptation to 
inflict as heavy ones as would be borne. In theory, there 
could be an appeal to the king; but the king was usually 
a long way off*, travel was not safe, and in any case the 

115 



When Knights were Bold 

word of a villein would count little when opposed to 
the word of a noble. 

A manor did not run itself. It had three chief offi- 
cials besides its lord. First, there was the reeve. He 
was one of the tenants, and his business was to carry on 
the cultivation of the lord's land. Then there was the 
bailiff, who took charge of the whole manor, saw that 
the work was done and the produce sold. But a noble 
often held a number of manors, and so a steward was 
also required, who went from one manor to another to 
examine the accounts of each, hold court, and take gen- 
eral charge of the estates. So it was that the reeve 
watched the tenants, the bailiff watched the reeve, the 
steward watched the bailiff; and finally an accountant, 
sometimes a relative of the lord, watched the steward 
and collected the money from the different manors. 
Over them all was the lord himself. He and his family 
and servants went from one manor to another, partly to 
use up what they could of produce on the spot, and 
partly, it is whispered, because so little attention was 
paid to cleanliness that it was the part of comfort as 
well as wisdom to allow a house to "sweeten " after it 
had been occupied for some weeks. 

A manor required far less from the outside world 

1 16 



V 



Life on a Manor 

than any village or city in these days. Food, with the 
exception of salt and the delicacies brought for the use 
of the lord, grew on the land. Hemp and wool were 
raised, spun into yarn, woven, and made into clothes on 
the spot. Sandals could be made by any one, and rough 
shoes could be put together by the shoemaker of the 
manor. There was also a carpenter, who could easily 
put up the wattled huts of the tenants. If anything more 
elaborate was to be undertaken, like the building of a 
church, builders were sent for from away. The black- 
smith mended the tools and farming implements and 
often made them. Clumsy, inconvenient things they 
were. The scythes were short and straight, and the 
sickles small and heavy. The great wooden ploughs 
were so big and cumbersome that even with eight oxen 
to pull them they cut into the ground only a little way, 
and a second ploughing was usually necessary. Enrich- 
ing the land and draining the soil were rarely practiced 
during the earlier part of the Middle Ages. Crops at 
best were small, often not more than one third of what 
the same amount of land would produce to-day. Fre- 
quently they failed almost altogether, because so little was 
known of agriculture ; and even when there was a year 
of plenty, it was hardly safe to sell the surplus, for it 

117 



When Knights were Bold 

might all be needed during the following year. The 
tenant had a hard life, but he was sure of as much pro- 
tection as his lord could give, of a place to stay in, and 
of an opportunity to raise something to eat. He had no 
freedom,. but in the times when freedom means danger, 
one does not grieve so sorely over the loss of liberty. 
William Langland, who wrote Piers Plowman^ tells how 
constantly the women worked. They must spin and 
card and comb wool, he says, trying to earn enough to 
pay the rent and the cost of milk and meal to feed 
their little ones ; they must mend and wash and reel, 
and peel rushes, so that it is a sad story to read the suf- 
ferings of the women who live in cottages. 

But as the years passed, the times changed. The ten- 
ants took little interest in the forced cultivation of their 
lord's land, and with all the watching it seldom brought 
in as much income as it might, certainly not so much 
as the lords desired, for many luxuries were now im- 
ported, people were interested in building, and they had 
developed a taste for living comfortably. These changes 
had been caused in great degree by the crusades or mil- 
itary expeditions to rescue the Holy Land from the 
Saracens ; but, whatever was the cause, the nobles wanted 
money. 

ii8 



Life on a Manor 

The villeins, on the other hand, wanted to get rid of 
forced labor. Buying a release from disagreeable duties 
was quite in fashion. Even nobles often bought them- 
selves free from entertaining the king. In many cases 
the peasants were permitted to buy a release from the 




OLD MANOR HOUSE 



services that they especially disliked. In some instances, 
where the lord was in pressing need of money, he in- 
sisted upon a tenant's buying his freedom. If a lord had 
a good supply of workmen, a tenant was sometimes al- 
lowed to leave the manor on condition of paying a tax. 
The Church was the friend of the tenant. It taught 
that to free a serf was a deed pleasing to God ; and if 
the son of the poorest serf showed intellectual ability 

119 



When Knights were Bold 

and aptitude for the priesthood, it demanded his release. 
It is thought that William Langland was a villein and 
became free on entering the Church. A tenant could 
sometimes escape to some city and find friends who 
would conceal him ; and in England there was a law that 
if a man could succeed in remaining hidden for a year 
and a day, he was forever free. Many of these runa- 
ways knew some trade by which they could support 
themselves. There were tanners, carpenters, saddlers, 
shoemakers, blacksmiths, and tailors among them. Early 
in the fourteenth century the weaving of fine woolens 
was introduced into England; and at this trade espe- 
cially a man could earn a good support. 

Little by little, then, the villeins were discovering 
that the lords needed them quite as much as they 
needed the lords. If a lord did not treat his laborers 
well, he would be likely to lose some of them. As time 
passed, more and more of the tenants paid rent instead 
of giving service ; and the lords could not always get as 
much service as they needed. More and more men be- 
came free to go from one manor to another as hired 
laborers. Villeinage would probably have slowly disap- 
peared in any case, but in the fourteenth century the 
system received two great shocks. One was the fact 

I 20 



Life on a Manor 

that when England fought France at the battle of 
Crecy, the day was won for the English, not by knights 
in steel armor, but by yeomen with their bows and 
arrows. The other was the terrible Black Death, a pes- 
tilence which swept over Europe. It is thought to have 
destroyed nearly one third as many people as there are 
in the United States. Then the lords or their heirs 
were in difficulties. They received a heriot on the death 
of a villein and the usual relief from his heir ; but so 
many had died that few manors had men enough left 
to do the necessary work. The success at Crecy had 
shown the common folk that they were able to pro- 
tect themselves; and now that laborers were few, they 
began to see that they were an important part of the 
population. In England occurred an uprising known as 
the Peasants' Revolt. The chief demand of these peas- 
ants was to be free from villeinage ; and although the 
revolters were severely punished, villeinage rapidly dis- 
appeared. France, too, had learned a lesson from her 
defeats at Crecy and elsewhere, for she had found that 
her knights in all their armor could not protect their 
country. People began to question, *' If knights cannot 
even guard their own land, what is the use of knight- 
hood?" and both knighthood and the manor system 

121 



When Knights were Bold 

gradually disappeared. But although the system has 
vanished, it still influences the law ; for instance, the be- 
lief of the Middle Ages was that the land of a country 
belonged to the king and was granted by him to his 
vassals for life ; and to-day if a man in England dies in- 
testate and without heirs, his land goes to the King ; in 
America it goes to the state. So it is that people of the 
twentieth century are affected by the beliefs and customs 
of the people who lived on manors many hundred years 
ago. 



CHAPTER VII 

Pilgrimages and Crusades 

Life in the Middle Ages was not all made up of tour- 
naments and battles and sieges of castles. People thought 
a good deal of how to escape being punished for their 
sins and how to make sure of going to heaven when 
they died. The way that seemed to them most certain 
to accomplish these objects was to make pilgrimages, or 
visits to holy places. The pilgrimage that was looked 
upon as most profitable was that to the Holy Land; but 
this was a long, difficult journey and quite beyond the 
reach of the masses of people. Fortunately for them, 
almost every cathedral was believed to be favored by 
some saint, and there were few persons who could not 
at some time in their lives make a visit to at least one 
of these fortunate shrines. When people were ill or were 
in danger, they often vowed to make a pilgrimage if 
they were healed of their illness or were rescued from 
their peril. Many went in the hope that by praying 
before a certain shrine they would be cured of some 
disease for which the doctors had not been able to find 

123 



When Knights were Bold 

a remedy. Some were sent by their confessors as pen- 
ance for their sins; and in such cases it was believed to 
be praiseworthy to make the journey as uncomfortable as 
possible. Sometimes a penitent was ordered to go bare- 
footed or wear an iron ring on his arm, or even 
to carry a heavy iron chain. There is an old 
story that two men were once com- 
manded by their confessor to walk 
with peas in their shoes. One of them 
hobbled along the way in great dis- 
comfort ; but the other strode 
along easily, for he had been 
thoughtful enough to boil 
his peas before starting. 

The ideal pilgrim was supposed to 
wear a rough gray cloak and a round 
felt hat, to sling a scrip, or bag, for 
bread, over his shoulder, to carry a 
long staff with a water bottle hanging 
from it, and to set out on foot, beg- 
ging his bread by the way ; but there 
were as many kinds of pilgrims as of folk, and as time 
passed, fewer and fewer of them troubled themselves to 
wear the gray cloak or even to beg their bread if they 

I 24 




A PILGRIM 



Pilgrimages and Crusades 

could afford to buy it. In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales 
the author describes a large company of pilgrims, but 
not one of them carried even scrip or staff. A knight, 
who was one of their number, had just returned from a 




CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 



voyage, and he started just as he was, in a fustian gipon, 
stained by his coat of mail. His son, a merry young 
squire, wore a sort of short gown with long, wide sleeves. 
A doctor was gorgeous in a robe of bright blue and red 
lined with silk. A woman from the town of Bath wore 

^25 



When Knights were Bold 

a sort of riding mantle fastened about her waist, and a 
hat " as broad as is a buckler or a shield." 

Good folk who were entirely sincere in wishing to 
make a pilgrimage in order to beg the aid of some 
kindly saint saw no harm in making their journey 
agreeable. A company of pilgrims often hired a few 
singers and bagpipe players to go with them and en- 
liven the way. In the Canterbury Tales^ the worthy land- 
lord says, *' There is neither comfort nor pleasure in 
riding along as silent as a stone"; and he suggests that 
each one of the travelers shall tell two stories going to 
Canterbury, and two returning. Then, when they have 
come back to the inn, he who has told the best tale 
shall have a supper at the expense of the others. These 
people had no peas in their shoes, or if they had, they 
did not mind, for they ambled along comfortably on 
horseback; and when night had come, they drew rein 
at the Tabard Inn, where they w-ere sure of good wine 
and the best of food. 

When pilgrims had come to their journey's end, some 
went straight to their prayers; others wandered about the 
church curiously. At Canterbury there was much to see. 
Among other treasures there was the point of the sword 
that had been thrust into the brain of the martyr Thomas 

I 26 



^¥ 



Pilgrimages and Crusades 

a Becket, and there was his very skull, all covered with 
silver save the forehead. The devout kissed the sacred 
rust of the sword and pressed their lips reverently to the 
skull. They gazed upon the hair shirt which the arch- 
bishop had worn and the scourge with which he had so 
often beaten himself for his sins. There were bones of 
lesser saints, there were silken vestments stiff with elab- 
orate embroidery, and there were superb jewels and gold 
and silver ornaments for the shrine that had been pre- 
sented by earnest worshipers. It is said that at the prin- 
cipal altar in the Canterbury cathedral only a few pence 
were left in the course of a whole year; but that at the 
shrine of Thomas a Becket gifts were made in the 
same time amounting to nearly one thousand pounds, 
a sum that would buy much more then than it will 
to-day. 

One of the greatest treasures of the cathedral at Can- 
terbury was a flask of blood, said to be that of a Becket. 
It was believed that if a sick person was permitted to 
taste a cup of water with which a drop of this blood 
had been mixed, he would be cured of whatever disease 
he might have. It is no wonder that thousands flocked 
to Canterbury. Sometimes one hundred thousand were 
in the place at the same time. An enterprising young 

127 



When Knights were Bold 

man set to work to make ampullae, or tiny flasks of lead 
and pewter, in which pilgrims might carry home a few 
drops of the wonder-working water to heal any of their 
friends who were suffering. These ampullae had little 

ears pierced with holes for 
cords. They were some- 
times hung about the neck 
and sometimes sewn on the 
cap or cloak or on the tunic 
over the heart. Other sou- 
venirs could be purchased. 
One was a silver or pew- 
ter head of Saint Thomas. 
Little bells were also for 
sale, called Canterbury 
bells, a name that has been 
given to a blue bell-flower of Canterbury which grows 
commonly in our gardens. 

Every shrine had its special token. Pilgrims who had 
been to Rome might wear badges representing two keys 
crossed, or a veronica, that is, a representation of the 
face of Christ on a handkerchief; those who had visited 
Santiago da Campostella in Spain wore scallop shells in 
honor of a miracle said to have been wrought on the 

128 




AMPULLA 



Pilgrimages and Crusades 

seashore by the body of Saint James. Sir Walter Raleigh 

wrote : — 

Give me my scallop shell of quiet, 

My staff of faith to walk upon, 
My scrip of joy, immortal diet. 

My bottle of salvation, 
My gown of glory, hope's true gage; 
And thus I '11 take my pilgrimage. 

The scallop shells and other badges were highly valued 
by their owners as proofs that they had really made the 
various pilgrimages. Of course a large amount of money 
was gained by their sale, and the right to manufacture 
them was very valuable. This privilege was given to 
certain families or to a bishop or to some convent. 

The people who went on pilgrimage were as unlike 
as people of to-day, and while many went with most 
honest devotion and often with loss and trouble to them- 
selves, others went because they enjoyed new scenes and 
the adventures of the way. Chaucer laughs slyly at these 
last and says that when April has come, when the gentle 
breezes blow, when twigs are green and little birds sing 
through the night, then it is that folk long to go on pil- 
grimage. They could hardly be blamed, for such a 
pilgrimage as that to Canterbury was certainly a pleasant 
little excursion. The road from London was known as 

I 29 



When Knights were Bold 

the "Pilgrim's Road." At Walsingham there was a 
monastery whose chapel contained a famous statue of 
the Virgin Mary, and the road thither was called the I 
"Palmer's Way," and the "Walsingham Green Way." 
A common name in England for the Milky Way 
was the " Walsingham Way." 

On the Continent there was a shrine in almost every 
province. The favorite one in France was on the wild, 
jagged rock of Mont Saint Michel in Normandy. This 
was sacred to the archangel Michael. At Kiev in Russia 
rested the bones of many martyrs, and every year thou- 
sands came to gaze reverently upon them and offer up 
fervent prayers. Treves in Prussia rejoiced in the posses- 
sion of a garment said to be the seamless coat worn by 
the Saviour. Throngs of people made long journeys to 
visit these places, and it was a common saying that the 
city which contained a valuable relic consisted mainly of 
churches and inns. 

There were sham pilgrims as well as real ones. It was 
regarded as a worthy act to aid a pilgrim by giving him 
food and lodging, and some of the gilds, or associations 
of tradesmen, maintained lodging-houses on purpose for 
poor pilgrims. This was an accommodation, but not en- 
tirely a charity ; for the tradesmen expected to be well 

130 



Pilgrimages and Crusades 

paid in the benefit that they would receive from the 
prayers of their guests. People of a wandering turn of 
mind or those who were too lazy to work for their bread 
found the liberality shown to pilgrims a vast convenience. 
They had only to choose a way leading to some popular 
shrine, and then they could roam on, comfortably cer- 
tain of bed and board without money or labor. It was 
easy for one who was weary of his work or his home 
village to become a sort of perpetual pilgrim; that is, it 
was easy until so many had learned the trick that laws 
were made against this vagrancy, and unless a person 
could prove that he was a real pilgrim, he was in danger 
of being shut up in prison as a real vagabond. 

Of course the most advantageous pilgrimage of all was 
that to the Holy Land. This was counted so meritorious 
a deed that he who aided any one in accomplishing it 
was looked upon as especially sure of a blessing ; while 
he who hindered such a pilgrim might expect neither 
happiness nor prosperity. Many of the gilds had the law 
that when one of its members was setting out on pilgrim- 
age, the others, both men and women, must go a little 
way with him, and in saying good-bye each must present 
him with a piece of money. He paid no dues to the gild 
while he was away ; for the members were supposed to 



When Knights were Bold 

share in the merits of his journey. On all the principal 
roads leading to holy places there were rest stations, 
sometimes built and supported by freewill offerings and 
sometimes by regular taxes. Here the pilgrim was al- 
ways entitled to a night's shelter. Convents were fre- 
quent, and at any one of them he was welcome to fire, 
water, and lodging, and even food if this was needed. 
In many places he had no tolls to pay, and whoever did 
him an injury was excommunicated, or forbidden the 
benefits of the Church. 

Before a person started on a long pilgrimage, he con- 
fessed his sins and went to a special service. Psalms 
were sung and prayers were offered that he might re- 
turn in safety. Then, just as the sword of the young 
knight was blessed, so the priest now pronounced the 
blessing of the Church upon the pilgrim's staff and 
scrip. Mass was said, a cross of cloth was sewn on his 
shoulder, and he started on a journey that would sepa- 
rate him from his friends for months and perhaps years. 
It might be that he had no idea of returning, for he 
who spent his last years in Jerusalem and there met his 
death was regarded as being the most blessed of man- 
kind. 

The common route from England to Palestine lay 

132 



Pilgrimages and Crusades 

through France to Lombardy and Venice, thence to Cy- 
prus, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. Sometimes it led to Egypt. So 
many thousand pilgrims were constantly traversing these 
roads that a person who started alone soon found compan- 
ionship and the safety that a large company would afford. 
Prominent men usually carried letters from their king, 
declaring that they were pilgrims and commending them 
to the protection of the rulers through whose lands they 
would pass. Sometimes a band of pilgrims was almost 
large enough for an army. In the eleventh century a great 
company, seven thousand strong, set out from Germany 
and Normandy for the Holy Land. Many of them were 
priests or bishops; but their holy orders did not save them, 
for Arab robbers came down upon them and carried away 
a large amount of their money, and forced them to fight 
for their lives. When those who escaped reached Jeru- 
salem, the patriarch, or head of the Church in that city, 
came out with the Christians of the place to bid them 
welcome. They were escorted with clanging of cymbals 
and flashing of lights to the Holy Sepulchre, in which 
Jesus vv'as said to have lain. These dwellers in Jerusalem 
pointed out the various places of interest, and were as de- 
finite in their information as if they had known anything 
about the matter. The pilgrims were eager to bathe in 



When Knights were Bold 

the river Jordan, and, indeed, to go wherever the feet of 
the Lord had trodden; but the Arabs were all about Jeru- 
salem, and he who wandered far from the city was in 
danger of losing his money and perhaps his life. After 
going about as much as they dared, they set out for their 
homes, stopping at Rome on their way. 

Many pilgrims preserved with the utmost care the 
shirts which they wore at their entrance into Jerusalem 
to be used as their shrouds ; for thus they would make 
sure of an easy entrance into heaven. They did not for- 
get to carry home some of the dust of the sacred coun- 
try ; for it was believed that whoever possessed a grain 
of it could never be harmed by fiends or demons. It was 
the custom for every pilgrim to bring back also a palm ; 
and when he had come to his own village, this was put 
up over the altar of his church to show that he had made 
the great pilgrimage. It was from this custom that pil- 
grims to Jerusalem were called palmers ; but as time 
passed, the name was often given to any pilgrim, even 
though he was making only a few days' journey to some 
shrine near his home. 

Pilgrims sometimes came back with heavier purses 
than they had carried with them ; for some of them were 
also merchants, and the productions of Asia were brought 




135 



When Knights were Bold 

by caravans to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean 
Sea. There these merchants would buy them, and on 
their homeward journey they would dispose of them at 
a most excellent profit. Another advantage of pilgrimage 
was that the returning traveler had enough stories of 
strange sights and adventures to last him all the rest of his 
life. In those days when neither magazines, novels, nor 
daily papers had ever been dreamed of, even the prosiest 
of these story tellers must have been a welcome guest 
at any castle on his way. 

The pilgrim often had, however, many stories of cruelty 
and persecution to narrate. In the seventh century the 
followers of Mohammed who captured Jerusalem had 
agreed that Christians might be permitted to live in the 
city provided they paid a tax of two gold pieces every 
year, wore a dress different from that of the Moham- 
medans, and did not put the cross on the outside of their 
buildings. Moreover, they must always rise if a Moham- 
medan appeared among them. During thefollowing four 
hundred years, there were no great changes in the laws, 
but there were great differences in the characters of the 
Mohammedan rulers. Some were cruel, while others 
were kind ; and the condition of the Christians in Jeru- 
salem was **as uncertain as April weather," said one of 

136 



Pilgrimages arid Crusades 

the old writers. The best of these rulers was the famous 
Haroun al Raschid, the "caliph" of the "Arabian 
Nights." At length, however, the Holy City fell into 
the hands of the barbarous Seljukian Turks. They, too, 
were Mohammedans, and they hated the Christians; and 
now, when pilgrims returned to France and Germany 
and England, they had terrible tales to tell of how the 
Christians were treated. " The Christian churches are 
profaned," they said, "and the priests are thrown into 
wretched dungeons. If a pilgrim shows any signs of hav- 
ing money, he is seized and robbed. If he is apparently 
a poor man, he fares even worse, for the Turks declare 
that no one would set out on such a journey without 
money, and they either kill him outright or torture him 
to make him give it up." 

Among the pilgrims was a monk called Peter the 
Hermit. He grew more and more indignant as he thought 
of the sufferings of the Christians, and of the insults of- 
fered by the Turks to the holy places. He prayed and 
fasted and finally became convinced that God had given 
to him the special work of recovering the Holy Land 
for the Christians, He told what he had seen to the 
Pope, Urban II. The Pope wept in sympathy and de- 
clared that the time had come for all Christians to unite 



When Knights were Bold 

and drive the Turks from Europe. Peter set out to arouse 
the people of France. He wore a coarse woolen shirt 
and a gray mantle. He was bareheaded and barefooted. 
He rode upon a mule and bore a huge cross in his arms. 
He was so earnest and eloquent that no one could hear 
him without being moved. People treasured up the very- 
hairs of his mule as precious legacies for their children. 
They loaded him down with gifts, but he divided these 
among the poor. He seemed to have no thought for 
himself, but only for the freedom of the Holy City. 
"Repent! Repent!" he cried. "Remember that, how- 
ever wicked you may have been, you have now the 
chance to win pardon for all your sins. He who strikes 
a blow to rescue the Holy Sepulchre from the pollution 
of the unbelievers has thrown open the door of heaven 
for himself." 

Into the midst of these people, already aroused to a 
high pitch of excitement and enthusiasm, came Pope 
Urban. He called a great council to meet at Clermont 
in France. No church was large enough to hold the 
thousands that came together, and they all went out 
upon a wide-spreading plain. A high scaffold was built, 
and from this the Pope addressed them. He bade them 
cease making war with one another and devote all their 

138 



Pilgrimages and Crusades 

power to striving against the Mohammedans. "You are 
sure of victory," he said, "for the Turks are cowards, 
while you are vaHant and strong. If you are slain, you 
will indeed have lost your bodies, but you will have saved 




PETER THE HERMIT HANDING LETTER FROM SIMEON, PATRIARCH OF 
JERUSALEM, TO POPE URBAN II 

your souls. Do not refuse for love of your families ; for 
you must love God more than these. Do not refuse for 
love of home ; for all the world is the Christian's coun- 
try. Do not refuse because of your wealth ; for much 
richer treasures await you. Those who die will enter the 
mansions of heaven. Those who live will behold the 



When Knights were Bold 

sepulchre of our Lord. Fortunate indeed are they who 
may enter such a conflict and share the glorious rewards 
that are set before them." "God wills it! God wills 
it ! " shouted the people. They wept, they smote their 
breasts in sorrow for their sins, and on the instant many 
pressed forward to beg for the red cross that was to be 
the sign of their having entered upon the holy under- 
taking. The Latin word for cross is crux, and therefore 
the expeditions to drive the Turks from the Holy Land 
were called crusades. 

The Pope had forbidden any to go except strong men 
well able to fight, and he had set August 15, 1096, as 
the day of their departure ; but the eager people could 
not think of waiting so long, and four months before 
that date two bands set out for Palestine, made up not 
only of strong men, but of old and infirm men and even 
women and children. One band was led by a gentleman 
of Burgundy called Walter the Penniless, one by Peter 
himself. It is thought that there were several hundred 
thousand persons on the march. They had come from 
throughout Europe. If a servant declared that he wished 
to join the crusade, no master dared to hold him back. 
" God wills it ! " said the debtor, and his creditor did not 
attempt to prevent him from going or even to make him 

140 



Pilgrimages and Crusades 

pay his debt. "God wills it ! " the criminal in prison cried, 
and the doors of his dungeon were thrown open that 
he, too, might join the army. The lord of a manor did 
not venture to forbid even a villein to put on the cross, 
nor did the bishop venture to command a priest or monk 
to remain at home. Sometimes whole families set out to- 
gether, sometimes husbands left their wives, or mothers 
their children, to join in the wild rush to the land of 
the unbelievers. Vast numbers of these eager people went 
because they firmly believed they were following the 
will of God ; but thieves went to gain chances to rob and 
steal, and swarms of folk went because they were greedy 
for any kind of change and excitement. As for the 
knights, their business was fighting ; and here was an 
opportunity to fight, not for the prizes of the tourna- 
ment, but for heaven itself. 

This strange and unwieldy army made their way to the 
East, and they succeeded in capturing Jerusalem. Some 
one must be chosen to rule the city, and the crusaders 
favored the foremost of the leaders, Godfrey of Bouillon, 
duke of Lorraine. It is said that some of them asked 
Godfrey's servants what was their master's greatest fault. 
The answer was that he persisted in staying so long in 
church to learn the meaning of every image and picture 

141 



When Knights were Bold 

that the dinner was often spoiled. In spite of this griev- 
ous imperfection, he was chosen ruler of Jerusalem. He 
would not accept the title of king and wear a crown of 
gold in the very place where Jesus had worn a crown 
of thorns ; and therefore the title of " Baron and defender 
of the Holy Sepulchre" was given to him. 

This was the first of the crusades. There were eight 
others, for after about one hundred years, Jerusalem 
again fell into the hands of the Mohammedans. Then 
Europe was indeed aroused, and three sovereigns, Rich- 
ard the Lionhearted of England, Philip II of France, 
and Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, led enormous 
armies toward the East. Frederick was drowned on the 
way ; but the others pushed on to Palestine. Battles 
were lost and battles were won. The kings quarreled 
and Philip and his soldiers went home. Richard had 
not men enough to capture Jerusalem, and he, too, left 
the country, though not until he had shown such skill 
and valor in warfare that even to this day his prowess is 
not forgotten in the East. 

People had felt so sure that the crusade of the three 
sovereigns would succeed that they hardly knew how to 
account for its failure. ** It must be that the crusaders 
had committed many sins of which they had not re- 

142 



Pilgrimages and Crusades 

pented," thought some; and gradually the belief spread 
that only those who were free from sin and pure in 




GODFREY OF BOUILLON 



heart could ever win the home-land of the Saviour. A 
French shepherd boy named Stephen went from place 



When Knights were Bold 

to place in France declaring that Jesus had commanded 
him to lead a company of children to the Holy Land 
to rescue the sepulchre of Jesus from the unbelievers. 
Throughout France he sang : — 

Jesus, Lord, repair our loss; 
Restore to us the holy cross. 

Thousands of children joined him. Rich and poor 
broke away from their homes and marched after him 
crying, "God wills it! God wills it!" "No bolts, no 
bars, no fear of fathers or love of mothers could hold 
them back"; and, moreover, the fathers and mothers 
often hardly dared to hold them back, lest in so doing 
they should be opposing God. In Germany, another boy 
preacher named Nicholas aroused the German children 
in the same way; and they all set out for the Holy Land. 
Longfellow says of their departure from Cologne: — 

From the gates, that summer day. 
Clad in robes of hodden gray, 
With the red cross on the breast. 
Azure-eyed and golden-haired. 
Forth the young crusaders fared ; 
While above the band devoted 
Consecrated banners floated, 
Fluttered many a flag and streamer, 
And the cross o'er all the rest ! 

144 



Pilgrimages and Crusades 

Singing lowly, meekly, slowly, 
" Give us, give us back the holy 
Sepulchre of the Redeemer ! " 




THE CHILDREN S CRUSADE 



They had neither weapons nor any thought of using 
them. They expected the waters of the sea to divide 
that they might pass over dryshod ; and they supposed 
that the walls of Jerusalem would fall at their coming 
and that the unbelievers would yield to them without 
striking a blow. But the plains were hot and the 

^45 



When Knights were Bold 

mountains were cold. Sometimes they could not get 
food. Longfellow says : — 

Ah ! what master hand shall paint 
How thev journeyed on their way, 
How the days grew long and dreary, 
How their little feet grew weary, 
How their little hearts grew faint ' 

Many were stolen and sold as slaves. Many were lost in 
that strange and bewildering journey. Thousands sick- 
ened and died. A very few, after long months of suf- 
fering, found their way back to their homes. 

There were in all nine crusades between the latter 
part of the eleventh century and that of the thirteenth. 
The bloodshed and suffering came to nothing so far as 
getting possession of the Holy Land was concerned ; for 
at the end of the last expedition it was left in the hands 
of the Mohammedans, and there it has remained from 
that day to this. The crusades did not drive the unbe- 
lievers from Palestine, but they did make vast changes 
in Europe. In the first place, an enormous amount of 
money was needed to pay expenses. If the lord of a 
manor wished to go on a crusade, he would often allow 
some of his villeins to pay dues in money instead of in 
work; and this tended to break up the manor system. 

146 



Pilgrimages and Crusades 

A sovereign who needed money for a crusade was usu- 
ally willing to grant to some of his cities many privi- 
leges of self-government if they would pay him a good 
round sum for this freedom. Again, the most turbulent 
folk and the most eager fighters were sure to seize the 
opportunity to join these expeditions, and thus make 
sure of plenty of fighting and excitement ; and this left 
the home-lands more quiet and peaceful. Another great 
gain was that these expeditions strengthened the Latin 
power in Constantinople, and thus prevented the Mo- 
hammedans from sweeping over central Europe. More- 
over, the crusaders became accustomed to the use of 
many things from the East, such as spices and silks, 
which they had regarded as luxuries when at home or 
had perhaps seldom seen at all. Numbers of vessels were 
built to carry the thousands of men to Palestine, and on 
the return voyage their holds were filled with these eastern 
productions. So it was that both shipbuilding and com- 
merce were greatly increased. People learned not only 
to use new things, but to think new thoughts. They 
learned of lands previously unknown to them, of strange 
peoples and customs. They were eager listeners to sto- 
ries of the crusades, and soon these stories, together with 
poems and histories, were written in the languages of 



When Knights were Bold 

the different countries of Europe. All these new ideas 
were most interesting to the good folk of the time ; but 
there was one in particular that was not only interesting 
but exceedingly surprising to them. The knight was 
the ideal man of the age, and Richard the Lionhearted 
was the ideal knight. The Mohammedan was despised 
by every one. But, behold, it had been seen that Rich- 
ard's Mohammedan enemy Saladin was as brave and fear- 
less, as courteous and generous as any hero of chivalry 
could ever be. The crusaders and those who listened to 
their stories did not become devoted admirers of their 
Mohammedan foes, but many of them did begin to 
comprehend that even if a man was of different race, 
different customs, and different faith, he was " a man 
for a' that" ; and this was perhaps the greatest gain of 
all. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Military Orders, Monks, and Monasteries 

Among those who wished most earnestly to make the 
way of the pilgrims a little easier were some merchants 
of Amalfi in Italy. A number of years before the first 
crusade, they came together to discuss how they could 
be most helpful to the wayfarers. They concluded that 
those who were strong and well and rich were in no 
special need of their aid. ** It is the sick and the poor 
whom we will care for," they declared, and they de- 
cided to build a hospital in Jerusalem. The caliph of 
Egypt gave them permission, and they built two hospitals, 
one for men and one for women. Here the sick were 
cared for and the poor were given shelter and food. 

When these grateful pilgrims left Jerusalem and re- 
turned to their homes, they told people about the new 
hospitals. Those who were able sent gifts; and this work 
of the merchants was plainly so sensible and helpful an 
undertaking that contributions from all parts of Europe, 
especially from Italy, were showered upon it, and valu- 
able gifts of land in different countries were made to it. 

149 



When Knights were Bold 

Many pilgrims, after reaching Jerusalem and seeing what 
good the hospitals were doing, resolved to remain and 
help in the good work. Then came the first crusade. 
The hospitals cared for the wounded soldiers ; and some 
of the crusaders decided that they, too, would remain 
and care for pilgrims. It became necessary to have a 
regular organization. This was formed, and the name 
Hospitallers of the Order of St. John was chosen. Who- 
ever wished to join the order must take the three vows 
that were required of monks and nuns, poverty, chastity, 
and obedience, and must also promise to devote his life to 
the service of the poor and sick in Jerusalem. Then the 
patriarch of Jerusalem put upon him a plain black robe 
having a white cross on the left breast. So much money 
and land came into the hands of the Hospitallers that they 
founded one house after another, not only in the Holy 
Land, but scattered through the countries of western 
Europe. There was also a chapter of the order to which 
women might belong, and large numbers joined it. 

Many of the members of the order had made long 
and dangerous journeys. They had fought in savage bat- 
tles, had commanded scores, perhaps hundreds of follow- 
ers ; and it must have seemed strange enough to them to 
have rules given them for every action and to be punished 



Military Orders, Monks, Monasteries 

like little children if they were not obedient. In the 
English houses, if two knights quarreled, the penalty was 
to eat dinner for seven days sitting on the ground. Two 
days of the seven, they were 
given only bread and water. If 
one struck another, he must do 
penance for forty days, usually 
by fasting. 

In 1118, a superior was 
chosen who was deeply inter- 
ested in military matters. He 
proposed that the knights 
should not only care for those 
in need, but should also take 
vows to fight whenever necessary 
in defense of religion. This 
was going back to their old 
occupation, and the Hospitallers were delighted. They 
met the Turks in battle again and again, and were, in- 
deed, the fiercest defenders of the kingdom of Jeru- 
salem. When one of these knights went into warfare, he 
wore armor of course, and over it a red surcoat with a 
white cross on the breast, and a red mantle with a white 
cross on the shoulder. 




HOSPITALLER 



151 



When Knights were Bold 

After the Turks captured Jerusalem, the Hospitallers 
established themselves on the island of Cyprus, then on 
Rhodes, and there they put up some large, handsome 
buildings. They cared for the sick, they fought the 
Turks, and they carried pilgrims from Cyprus to the 
Holy Land. The Turks sent out vessels to prevent this, 
and there were some furious sea-fights. 

Next, the Hospitallers became military engineers, for 
they got possession of the island of Malta and made it 
one of the strongest fortifications in the world. Twice 
the Turks tried their best to capture it, but did not suc- 
ceed. Later, the Hospitallers patrolled the Mediter- 
ranean Sea with large war-galleys, trying to overcome 
the pirates of northern Africa. The order is still in ex- 
istence. It has been called "the last relic of the crusades 
and of chivalry." 

The Hospitallers did their best to carry pilgrims safely 
to the coast of Palestine and to care for them after they 
were once in Jerusalem ; but there was a long and 
dangerous journey to be made from the coast to the Holy 
City. The Turks were always on the watch, and when 
they caught sight of a company of pilgrims, they swooped 
down upon them and either put them to death or dragged 
them away to a life of slavery. A band of nine valiant 



Military Orders, Monks^ Monasteries 

knights in Jerusalem were determined that this should 
no longer be endured ; and they took not only the usual 
three vows, but also a fourth, which bound them to pro- 
tect pilgrims on this jour- 
ney and to fight for the 
Holy Sepulchre. They built 
a house for themselves close 
to the temple in Jerusalem, 
and from this came their 
name of Templars, or Knights 
of the Temple. Their num- 
bers increased. Sons of the 
noblest and richest families 
in Europe begged to become 
members of the order. 
Princely gifts of money and 
lands were lavished upon it ; 
branches were formed, and houses, many of them as well 
fortified as castles, were built in the Holy Land and also in 
nearly all the countries of Europe. The dress of the 
Templars was a white surcoat with a red cross over the 
breast, and a long white mantle with a red cross on the 
shoulder. 

Two hundred years passed, and the Templars had 

153 




TEMPLAR 



When Knights were Bold 

become an entirely different association. In the early 
days of the order they had lived upon charity and had 
chosen for their seal a representation of two knights 
riding upon one horse to indicate poverty ; but now they 
had become enormously wealthy. Their numbers had 
increased greatly because they admitted as partial mem- 
bers many persons who simply wished to make sure of 
protection. More than one king became jealous of their 
power, and was exasperated because the Church forbade 
him to tax them. Stories were spread by their enemies 
that instead of fighting with the Turks they were ready 
to make any sort of treaty that would secure their own 
property in the Holy Land. At length Philip the Fair 
of France accused them falsely of heresy and immoral- 
ity. Some of them were tortured until they admitted that 
the charges were true, and in France fifty-four were 
burned at the stake. Other countries followed the ex- 
ample of France. Part of their property was given to 
the Hospitallers, but by far the larger part of it went 
to the rulers of the lands in which it was situated. 

The Hospitallers and the Templars were the principal 
military orders of the Middle Ages ; but there were also 
many orders which were purely religious. Most of the 
convents already in existence followed the rule of Saint 

154 



Military Orders, Monks, Monasteries 

Benedict of Nursia, who died in the sixth century. The 
monks who gathered around him were bidden to be so 
poor as not even to claim as their own the gowns that 
they wore; to pray seven times daily, and to chant the 
Psalms of David every week; and 
also to labor with their hands. 
" Laborare est orare," was one of 
Saint Benedict's favorite mottoes. 
The monks were required to spend 
seven hours a day in manual labor 
and two hours in reading and study. 
While they ate, they must listen 
to the reading of some religious 
book. They wore white cassocks, 
and over them flowing gowns with 
hoods. The long gown would be 
in the way in working; so, when 
they made ready for work or for 
traveling, they wore instead a short black tunic without 
sleeves. They were rarely permitted to speak. They 
fasted often, and during Lent they ate nothing until 
after vespers. They had to promise to bear reproof and 
even corporal punishment with the utmost meekness. 
These were some of the provisions of the rule of 




BENEDICTINE MONK 



When Knights were Bold 

Saint Benedict ; but as one century after another passed, 
the customs of both monks and nuns became far less 
strict. As an act of piety, children were often led in by 
their parents or even taken in their cradles and laid 
upon the altar to grow up in the convents that they 
might become monks or nuns. These children were 
not always adapted to the monastic life, and when they 
grew up, they were not sorry to have the rules less 
severe. Then, too, the monasteries had become very 
rich.' It is true that no individual monk or nun could 
hold property; but the convent as a whole could hold 
an unlimited amount. Kings and nobles had made them 
large gifts. A Benedictine convent was no longer the 
home of a group of self-denying monks living in ob- 
scurity and poverty ; it was the abode of a community 
so rich that it was a power in the country in which it 
was situated. The rule grew more and more lax. Abuses 
sometimes crept in, and wrongdoing. Some earnest folk 
did not feel that this comfortable fashion of living was 
at all what life in a convent should be ; they were eager 
to go back to the simple, severe rule of Saint Benedict. 
That was why the convent of Cluny was founded. The 
Cluniacs did some manual work, but spent most of their 
time in prayer and study. They taught, and in their 

156 



Military Orders, Monks, Monasteries 

bookrooms they made beautiful copies of the ancient 
manuscripts. They cared for the poor, and they did 
everything they could to increase the power of the 
Pope. The house at Cluny was only the beginning; for 
soon it became too small for the earnest men who 
wished to join the community; and one house after 
another was founded to make a place for them. Cluny, 
however, kept the control in its own hands. The other 
houses were governed by priors, but the head of the 
house at Cluny was called an abbot. He often visited 
the other convents and examined them to make sure 
that they were carrying out the Cluniac rules and were 
not introducing any new customs. These houses were 
known as the Congregation of Cluny. They increased 
so rapidly that in two hundred years after the parent 
house was founded in 910, there were fully two thou- 
sand of them. They were scattered over many countries; 
but, no matter where they stood, every one was under 
the rule of the abbot of Cluny. 

In spite of the two thousand Cluniac convents, there 
were still many people who were not satisfied. They 
felt that even the rule of Cluny was not strict enough. 
Those who are in earnest in wishing to lead lives of 
devotion, they said, ought to be entirely free from all 

^57 



When Knights were Bold 

worldly matters and give themselves up wholly to pov- 
erty and self-denial. This belief was most strongly held 
in France, and during the last quarter of the eleventh 
century several other orders were founded to carry out 
the idea. The first of these was the order of Gram- 
mont, which was founded by a French nobleman named 
Stephen. He certainly practiced self-denial, for he lived 
upon nothing but bread and water. Others followed his 
teachings, and in time the order was formed. Its rule 
was far more severe than that of Cluny. Stephen took 
special pains to free his monks, or "good men," as he 
preferred they should be called, from the temptations 
of wealth ; for he decreed that, no matter how rich 
their convent might become, they should have nothing 
to do with the management of the property. This was 
all to be in the hands of some lay brethren. Unfortu- 
nately, the lay brethren and the "good men" did not 
agree, and at length the order fell to pieces. 

The Carthusian Order was founded a few years after 
the Order of Grammont by one Bruno, a canon of 
Cologne. This was the most strict of all the orders. 
Bruno chose for his abode a wild tract of land in south- 
eastern France. There he and six others built a chapel 
and a group of rude huts. These finally became the 

158 



Military Orders, Monks^ Monasteries 

Grande Chartreuse. He and his six companions entered 
upon a life of the utmost rigor. The men could hardly 
be called companions, for each had his own little cell, or 
rather, a tiny house, and in this he 
spent his life, praying, meditating, 
and copying manuscripts. He was 
seldom permitted to speak, and in- 
deed, he seldom had an opportunity. 
Once a day food was silently passed 
in at his window. Three times a 
week he took only bread and water. 
Twice a week vegetables were given 
him, which he might cook for him- 
self. On Sundays and Thursdays he 
was allowed to eat cheese or eggs, 
and even fish if any had been given 
to the convent. Meat he was never 
permitted to taste. On Sundays and feast days he had 
the rare indulgence of dining with the other monks, 
but in silence of course. He wore constantly a shirt of 
the roughest haircloth and over it a white cassock. 
Over the cassock he wore a scapulary, that is, a long 
piece of cloth, hanging down in front and behind and 
joined at the sides by a band. His hood was white. 




CARTHUSIAN MONK. 



When Knights were Bold 

Many Carthusian houses were estabhshed, especially 
in France. Each of these was known as a Chartreuse in 
honor of the first home of the order. In England, 
" Chartreuse" became " Charter-house." 




CELL OF A MONK 

The Carthusian Order still exists hardly changed at all 
in its rule. At the Grande Chartreuse of to-day, thirty- 
six monks have each a tiny apartment of four rooms. It 
opens into the cloister, and a garden separates it from its 
next neighbor. Beside the cloister door is a sliding shut- 
ter through which food is silently passed in. Whenever 
the monk is in need of anything, he writes the name of 
the article on a bit of paper and lays this beside the slide. 

i6o 



Military Orders, Monks, Monasteries 

It is brought him in silence. No one enters the little 
abode except its owner. As it was eight hundred years 
ago, so now he may go to the refectory on Sundays and 
feast days and eat a silent meal with the other monks. 
Once a week there is a " public walk," that is, the monks 
walk together and are permitted to talk. On other days 
the walk of the monk is a solitary pacing to and fro on 
a covered way adjoining his cell. The costume is still a 
white robe and cowl of wool, a white leather belt, and 
a white woolen cloak. The main business of the order is 
prayer ; but the monks have a valuable library and they 
do much reading and studying. They maintain houses for 
the ill and needy. 

It was not many years after the founding of the Car- 
thusian Order that the whole Christian world was aroused 
by hearing of the sufferings of the pilgrims to Jerusalem. 
Peter the Hermit and others preached, Pope Urban called 
the famous council at Clermont, and in 1095 the first 
crusade set out. But many remained at home who were 
just as earnest as the crusaders in longing to do some- 
thing for the salvation of their souls. Some of them de- 
termined to become monks. They wished to live as sim- 
ply and strictly as possible ; but there was no order that 
seemed to them severe enough. Cluny was now nearly 

161 



When Knights were Bold 

two hundred years old. The order was wealthy. It owned 
handsome buildings, broad-spreading lands, and much 
treasure. Its churches were loaded with ornament. The 
windows were of the richest stained glass. The chalices 
gleamed and glittered with jewels. Such surroundings 
seemed to the people who were seeking so eagerly for 
simple lives to be entirely too luxurious for their purpose. 
Of course the next step was the founding of a new order. 

The first monastery was built 
at Citeaux, and therefore the 
monks were called Cistercians. 
The Cistercians planned to 
build their convents as far from 
cities as possible. The houses 
were to be absolutely plain. A 
single turret for a bell w^as al- 
lowed, but no other towers. 
Within, the walls were to be 
bare. No images of saints were 
admitted, and even the crucifix 
must be of wood. The candle- 
sticks of the altar were of iron, 
the vestments of the priests were of coarse fustian. There 
were no hours of study for the Cistercians. They learned 

162 




CISTERCIAN MONK 




VIEW OF CITEAUX 



When Knights were Bold 

how to say their prayers, and that was enough. Instead 
of studying or reading, they spent much time in manual 
labor. Their food was rude and scanty, and during the 
greater part of the year they ate only one meal a day. 
Their gowns and hoods were made of undyed wool, and 
therefore they were often called the " white monks." 
Their sleeves hung down far below their hands, and a 
company of these monks, sitting with crossed arms, an 
attitude supposed to express great respect, must have been 
an amusing sight. The Cistercians were successful farm- 
ers. In England they raised immense flocks of sheep, 
and in the thirteenth century they were the greatest wool 
merchants in the land. They had also large iron works; 
and their wealth increased until they became as rich and 
powerful as the Cluniacs. 

The great man of the Cistercians was Saint Bernard. 
He was so zealous that he found the rigorous ways of 
the order none too severe for him. He was so eloquent 
that no one could resist him. He urged the emperor of 
Germany to go on a crusade ; and much to the emperor's 
own surprise, he found himself promising to go. Saint 
Bernard preached to a group of students that it was better 
to save their souls than to study ; and straightway a score 
of them dropped their books and became his followers. 

164 



Military Orders, Monks^ Monasteries 

These four orders were the most important of those 
founded in the tenth and eleventh centuries; but con- 
vents were nothing new, and there were orders of all 
varieties for both monks and nuns. Some were but little 
less strict than the four that have been named ; in others, 
the monks had a fine time, playing chess, keeping birds 
and dogs, and even going hunting. Chaucer describes a 
monk who was very fond of hunting. "And when he 
rode," says the poet slyly, "one could hear his bridle jin- 
gling in the whistling wind as clear and as loud as the 
chapel bell." According to Chaucer, this same monk 
liked a fat swan " best of any roast " ; and certainly some 
of the monks did not stint themselves in eating and drink- 
ing. It is said that the monks of Winchester once com- 
plained to Henry II ** with tears in their eyes " that the 
bishop had insisted upon withdrawing several of their 
dishes, and had left them only ten. The story declares 
that King Henry swore at them roundly and said that 
three dishes were enough for him. 

In rearing the buildings of a convent, there was little 
variety in the general plan. The centre of the whole 
establishment was an oblong space of green turf with 
sometimes a fountain and shrubs. This was called the 
cloister court. Around it was generally a covered walk 

165 



When Knights were Bold 

whose roof was supported by beautifully wrought pillars 
of stone. Here the monks walked and studied and taught 
their pupils. The church was built at the north end of 
the court, a wise plan for keeping off the cold north winds. 
On the east side of the cloister was the chapter-house, or 
council chamber. Next to that was the dormitory, or 
general sleeping house. On the south side was the refec- 
tory, or dining room. Here there was always a pulpit, or 
reading desk, from which some religious book was read 
while the monks ate their meals. On the west side was 
the office of the cellarer, whose business it was to look 
after food and drink. Near it was a guest house, some- 
times richly furnished and 
decorated, and any other 
buildings that might be 
needed. No monastery pos- 
sessed what would to-day 
be called a library. Print- 
ing was not invented. Books 
were written by hand on 
expensive vellum or parch- 
ment ; and a collection of 
four or five hundred would have been looked upon with 
some wonder. There was almost always a writing room, 

i66 




A MONK WRITING 



Military Orders, Monks, Monasteries 

however, usually over the chapter-house. Here the monks 
copied laboriously with pen and ink the books used in the 
church service and those that were sold to outsiders. The 



«-/{ 



i0anotvrqtic cmtemp0 qne 

toUlJnimtt^ limine (f mioCtnott 

ti5P%bi^ti0» <^ |mtt/ att<>ir la^ 
ampwiiCattccu cpteTi'gnit eft 
a^laumr awl^^ qne xiyot aC{e^ 

cftott aflxiee imWnial[lftq|iurik 
tite ajne^ ttumlt tt tnrotvweni 

xxenmxt q\xe iX Cement citdCis 

THE BEGINNING OF A CHAPTER 



capitals at the beginnings of chapters were often elaborately 
painted with gold and bright colors that are just as brilliant 
now as when they were put on. Many convents carried on 
schools, and the schoolbooks also had to be made. The 

167 



When Knights were Bold 

journal must be kept up, that is, the account of what was 
done in the convent from day to day, and sometimes 
annals of what was happening in the kingdom. 

A monastery did not run itself. It was not only a place 
where prayers were said and books were copied; it was 
a place where people ate and drank and wore out shoes 
and clothes, cared for the sick, managed a school, and 
entertained as if it were a great hotel. There was a vast 
amount of work to be done, and a vast amount of think- 
ing was needed to manage the work and see that nothing 
was left at loose ends. Wool and linen for clothing were 
raised on convent lands, spun and woven, cut out and 
made on the spot. Cattle were raised and the skins tanned 
for shoes. Vegetables and fruit grew in the convent gar- 
dens ; grain was grown in the fields of the establishment 
and was ground in the convent mill. Grapes were grown 
for wine, and bees were kept for honey. There were car- 
penters, masons, fishers, hunters, blacksmiths, and bakers. 
Guests were always coming and going. There were pil- 
grims, both humble and of rank, minstrels, merchants, 
jugglers, pedlars, nobles, sometimes even a king and his 
suite ; and all were to be looked after and treated accord- 
ing to their degree. This was the hospitality that was 
shown to Columbus and his little son at the Spanish con- 

i68 



Military Orders, Monks, Monasteries 

vent of La Rabida, and that opened the way for his voy- 
age to the New World. 

All these different departments of a convent must be 
cared for, and there must be some one person responsible 
for each. At the head of the whole establishment was 
the abbot ; in his absence his place was filled by the prior. 
The care of money, clothing, and keeping the accounts 
was in the hands of the chamberlain, and he had also the 
responsibility of the archives, or records of the convent. 
The librarian had charge of whatever books there were 
and also of the copying room. The gold and silver chal- 
ices and other vessels used in the service and the orna- 
ments of the altar were often encrusted with costly 
jewels. Then, too, there were relics of the saints, and 
if these could cure the lame, heal the sick, and open the 
eyes of the blind, they were surely of much greater value 
than all the gold and gems, to say nothing of the amount 
of gifts made to the convent by the grateful people who 
had been healed. These were cared for and guarded by 
the sacristan. It was no small task to look after the food 
and drink for hundreds of people, for the well and the 
ill, for monks, for young novices, who were trying the 
life before taking their final vows, for servants, for pupils 
of the school, for the little children who had been given 

169 



When Knights were Bold 

to the convent. This was the work of the cellarer. But 
it was only a part of his work, for he must always be 
ready for guests of all kinds and degrees. Perhaps these 
guests were only a little band of the humblest pilgrims 
who would be more than satisfied with the simplest fare ; 
and perhaps they were a noble with his followers, or even 
a prince or a king. Whoever came, whether one or a 
large company, the cellarer must always be ready to treat 
each one according to his rank. No bill was presented. 
The hospitality was a free gift to all ; but it was expected 
that those who were able to pay would make a gift to 
their entertainers. Sometimes these guests or other friends 
of the convent presented large sums of money or even 
manors, whose income was to be given to the poor. Dis- 
tributing this charity was enough to keep one man, the 
almoner, busy ; for the poor and needy never failed to 
flock about the convent gate. Indeed, only part of this 
work could be done by the almoner; and if any of the 
poor folk or any monks were ill, they had to be given 
into the hands of the infirmarius for care and treatment. 
These were only a few of the offices. There was a ter- 
rier, who had special care of the guest rooms; a porter 
who guarded the gate and saw to it that no one entered 
who had not a right to be admitted; achantor, who took 

170 



Military Orders, Monks, Monasteries 

charge of the choral service and taught the monks to sing. 
There was a master of the novices who taught them to 
work and to meditate and to behave themselves properly 
in all respects. He even cared for their dress, and it was 
his business to get from the chamberlain the cowls, 
gowns, shoes, bedding, and other things that they needed. 
In every large convent, each division of the work and 
management required so much care and responsibility 
that there was hardly any limit to the number of offi- 
cials. 

The accounts of the convent were kept most minutely. 
There w^ere no " sundries." Every dish, even every nail, 
must be accounted for, and the sheets must balance to 
the half of a farthing. Most convents were the " lords " 
of manors, sometimes a large number of manors ; and 
even to keep the accounts of these, to say nothing of at- 
tending to their cultivation and the sale of the produce, 
must have been an enormous amount of work. 

However earnestly a monk might wish to withdraw 
himself from the world, it was impossible for a large 
monastery to avoid having constant dealings with out- 
siders. Besides the buying and selling which were al- 
ways necessary, a town frequently grew up on convent 
land, as has been said before, and therefore paid taxes 

171 



When Knights were Bold 

to the convent. But as the town grew larger and more 
independent, the townsfolk protested against these taxes, 
while the convent struggled as emphatically to collect 
them. Sometimes the contest came to a real hand to hand 
fight. In this the monks were not helpless by any 
means, for an abbot who controlled a number of man- 
ors could often call out several hundred men to take up 
arms for him. In one case in England the monks stood 
by their ancient right of grinding the townsfolk's corn 
and charging them a good price for so doing. The 
townsfolk, on the other hand, declared that in future 
they should grind their own corn. The quarrel grew, 
and the townsfolk actually besieged the convent for 
more than ten days before an agreement was reached. 
There were also quarrels with bishops and nobles, which 
often led to lawsuits, if not to blows and sieges. The 
monks took the stand that they owed obedience to the 
Pope and to no one else. But a convent was in the dio- 
cese of some bishop, and as time passed, most monks 
were ordained. Therefore the bishop naturally claimed 
some control over them. Such disagreements were 
sometimes settled by the archbishop, but oftener they 
were appealed to the Pope. It was excellent policy for 
monks and nobles to be friendly ; but they watched 

172 



Military Orders^ Monks, Monasteries 

each other Hke cats and dogs. Nobles who knew them- 
selves about to die and who hoped to win pardon for 
their sins by a rather belated generosity often made large 
gifts to convents. Naturally, the monks were pleased 
and the heirs of the nobles were not ; and often it was 
a question which side would succeed in keeping hold 
of the land or treasure. 

The work done by the monasteries of the Middle 
Ages was of the utmost value. In agriculture alone it 
can hardly be too highly estimated. The monks were 
the most skillful farmers of the time. They usually set- 
tled themselves in some desolate place. They cleared 
away the forests. They drained the swamps, and made 
the waste land into fruitful fields and gardens. They 
built roads and bridges. To the poor and oppressed the 
convents were friends and helpers. They lessened the 
burdens of the villeins on their own estates, and by their 
example those of the toilers on the lands of the nobles. 
They carried on schools, and in an age of the sword and 
the lance they maintained interest in education. They 
saved classical literature and much history of manners 
and customs, as well as records of the events of their own 
day. Moreover, however wealthy and perhaps luxuri- 
ous some of the orders may have become, they stood. 



When Knights were Bold 

nevertheless, before the greedy sovereigns and the law^- 
less barons as reminders that they had been founded by 
men to whom riches and comfort were nothing in com- 
parison with lives made pleasing to God. 



CHAPTER IX 

Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 

When a hermit appears in a romance, he is generally 
described as an old man with picturesque gray beard 
and hair, and either a long gray cloak or a scanty robe 
of sackcloth. He has had wild adventures in his youth, 
has perhaps done some deeds of violence to which 
he occasionally refers darkly ; but now he keeps lonely 
vigils, he flogs himself with briers and wears a hair 
shirt by way of atoning for his sins. He omits most of 
his meals, and when he does deign to eat, his food con- 
sists of a dry crust, a handful of cress, and a cup of 
water. Much of his time he spends in counting his 
beads. He cares nothing for money and despises com- 
forts. His bed is the damp stone of his cave. His 
clothes he wears until they are ready to drop from him 
in pieces. His cell is always conveniently near the spot 
where some one has just been attacked by thieves and 
left on the ground as dead. He lifts the insensible suf- 
ferer to his shoulder, bears him to the cave, bathes his 
forehead with cool water from the spring, and then ap- 

175 



When Knights were Bold 

plies a wonder-working ointment, given him perhaps in 
his youth by some heathen Saracen; and, presto, in a 
day or two the man who had fallen among thieves is 
completely cured and either goes his way or else him- 
self becomes a dweller in a cave of stone with a menu 
of cresses and water. 

' Such is the hermit of the romances; but the hermit 
of the Middle Ages was quite a different person. Some- 
times, it is true, he made for himself a tiny abode deep 
in the forest or in the midst of some lonely desert, and 
sometimes he dug for himself a den in the side of a hill 




A HERMIT 



176 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 

or hewed out a rough cave in a cUff. Sometimes his 
abode was merely a hut of wattle-work or a sort of 
booth covered with branches ; but often he dwelt in a 
comfortable little cottage of wood or stone on a high- 
way. Occasionally several hermits grouped themselves 
together, each having his own cell, or rather cottage, 
and using one chapel. The hermit dressed much like the 
monks, usually in a robe of black or gray; though there 
is at least one old picture of a hermit wearing a cheery 
little red cap. He was generally drawn with a book, a 
bell to ring for mass and to drive away evil spirits, and a 
staff. 

As to what the hermits did with themselves all day 
long, one must remember that there were almost as 
many kinds of hermits as there are of people. There are 
stories of hermits who became so absorbed in prayer 
that the hours passed like minutes; of one who was able 
to wear the same cloak for many years, because while 
he was praying, his friends quietly slipped it off, mended 
it, and laid it upon his shoulders again, without his dis- 
covering its absence. There were hermits who made 
themselves useful by taking up their abode near some 
dangerous fording place and carrying pilgrims on their 
shoulders across the stream. Such is the hero of the 

177 



When Knights were Bold 

legend of Saint Christopher, to whom a little child one 
day appealed to be borne over the rivers The strong 




ST. CHRISTOPHER 

man took the child upon his shoulders and waded into 
the stream. But the burden grew heavier and heavier, 

178 



Hermits^ Friars^ and Missionaries 

and he could hardly make his way across and stagger 
up the opposite bank. " Child," he said, " thou hast 
put me in great peril. I could bear no heavier burden." 
The child answered, *' Marvel not, for to-day thou hast 
borne on thy shoulders the whole world and the weight 
of its sins."_ A 

A hermit of a sociable turn of mind sometimes built 
himself a hut beside a bridge. Bridges were trouble- 
some comforts in those days. They were supposed to be 
cared for by the landowners within whose boundaries 
they stood; and the lords often collected toll for their 
use; but the one that was left entirely to their care 
would have been rather dangerous. No one could deny 
that bridges were useful, but to build a needed bridge 
or keep one in repair was everybody's business, and 
therefore it was nobody's business. So it came to pass 
that building a bridge or caring for one was looked upon 
as being as much of a religious act as going to church. 
People sometimes built a bridge by way of doing pen- 
ance for their sins ; or in their wills they left money 
for one for the same reason. Some of the gilds took 
certain roads and bridges under their charge as a reli- 
gious duty. On the larger bridges chapels were some- 
times built. It did not seem at all out of place, then, 

179 



When Knights were Bold 

for a hermit to establish himself beside a bridge and 
claim farthing gifts from travelers on the ground that 
he was caring for it. If they got safely over, it mattered 
little to them whether he spent all the money in repairs 
or not. They rode away with the comfortable feeling 
that they had done their duty and it had not cost much ; 
and the hermit was reasonably sure of farthings enough 
for his needs. ' 

But begging at bridges was not the hermit's only 
means of gaining a livelihood. The mere fact that a 
man lived in a certain place and depended upon charity 
for his food was sufficient to induce people to make him 
gifts, and to leave him money in their wills. Occasion- 
ally a wealthy man built a hermitage and endowed it 
just as one to-day might endow a hospital or a library. 

One might, then, put on a hermit's garb with a sin- 
cere wish to withdraw from the temptations of the world 
and pass the time in prayer and meditation; or he might 
adopt the name of hermit as an easy, comfortable way 
of making a living without working for it. There were 
so many of these pretenders that in the laws they were 
often classed with beggars and vagabonds. They make 
themselves hermits "their ease to have," says the old 
poem oi Piers Plowman. In England in the fourteenth 

i8o 



Hermits^ Friars, and Missionaries 

century it was forbidden for a man to call himself a 
hermit unless he had been formally pronounced one by 
his bishop; and there was a regular service for blessing 
a man and setting him apart to the solitary life. Some 
bishops went so far as to refuse to give a man the title 
of hermit unless provision had already been made for his 
maintenance. 

Hermits were not the only people who withdrew 
from the world. There were also anchorites and an- 
choresses, who dwelt in little cells or houses attached 
often to some church or monastery. There was a ser- 
vice for the "enclosing" of a recluse. He was to be 
warned that it was no merit in him to shut himself 
away from others; but that he yielded to temptation or 
led others into wrong so easily that he was to be put 
into the cell as into a prison. This cell was sometimes 
a single room and sometimes a little house with a gar- 
den; but, whatever it was, the recluse was supposed 
never to leave it so long as he lived. If he had but a 
single room, it was to be of good size, to have three 
windows, — one for light, one through which food 
might be passed, and one opening into the church. 
Here the recluse prayed, read, wrote, and sometimes 
loaded himself with chains and bore severe penances; 

i8i 



When Knights were Bold 

or else lived at his ease and with a very moderate 
amount of discomfort. There is a quaint old book called 
T^he Ancren Riwle^ or rule for anchoresses, written by 
a bishop of the thirteenth century, that gives a pretty 
good idea of the life of a woman recluse. She might 
sew, not on silken purses and such vanities, but on 
clothes for poor folk; or she might embroider vest- 
ments for the use of the church. She must not wear 
jewelry or ornamented girdles. She must be obedient to 
her bishop and to the Pope. In her room there was to 
be an altar and a cheery little fireplace; and the good 
bishop gives her express permission to keep a cat that 
may sit on the hearth and purr. She may even enter- 
tain her friends, though in rather an unsatisfactory 
fashion. Her maid is to see to it that everything is 
done for their comfort; but the hostess is only permitted 
to open her little window once or twice and make signs 
to them of the pleasure that their visit is giving her. 
The window seems to have been the greatest tempta- 
tion of an anchoress; for the busy world was passing by 
that little opening, and it was harder to forget it than 
if she had been entirely shut away from it in a convent. 
The bishop warns her that she must never put her head 
out, and that she must not even hold lengthy conversa- 

182 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 

tions with any one through it ; she may " sit and listen, 
and not cackle." Whether all the recluses were invari- 
ably obedient is a question. 

Thousands of honest, conscientious men and women 
had given up their homes, their friends, and even the 
most innocent pleasures of the world to become monks 
or nuns or recluses, to live a life that they believed would 
make them acceptable to God. They taught those who 
came to their schools, and they fed the hungry folk who 
gathered at their gates ; but there were hundreds of thou- 
sands of people who were not reached by the monks and 
nuns or even by the clergy ; and orders were now formed 
whose business it was, not to remain in a cloister, but to 
go out into the world to preach the Gospel to the poor 
and needy and help them in every way possible. The 
men who joined these orders were known as preaching 
friars, from the La.tin Jratres and the French yrmv, mean- 
ing brothers. The founder was Saint Francis of Assisi, 
as he is now called. His father had made him a partner 
in his business ; but the son's only idea of managing 
money was to give away all that came into his hands, 
and the father soon brought the partnership to an end. 
One in particular of the sayings of Jesus burned in the 
young man's heart, and he said it over and over to him- 

183 



When Knights were Bold 

self. It was, " Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass 
in your purses ; nor scrip for your journey, neither two 
coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves; for the workman is 
worthy of his meat." This command Jesus gave to his 
disciples when he sent them out two by two ; and the 
honest young Francis made up his mind that in this way 
preachers ought still to go forth into the world. He laid 
down his staff, put off his shoes, flung away his purse, 
and fastened up his gown with a girdle of rope. He gave 
up air claim to his inheritance and went out among the 
people to tell them that God loved them, that Jesus had 
died, had risen, and was alive for evermore. A few other 
enthusiastic men joined him. He required that the vow 
of poverty should be a real one for them, both as indi- 
viduals and as an order, that they should work with their 
hands for their food, and that, if work or wages failed, 
they should beg their bread from door to door. Charm- 
ing little stories of the saint and his followers are told in 
the Little Flowers of Saint Francis. One tells us that he 
and " Brother Matteo " begged some crusts of bread and 
sat down on a stone beside a fountain to eat them. " O 
Brother Matteo, we are not worthy of this great treas- 
ure," Saint Francis exclaimed. But the matter-of-fact 
Brother Matteo replied, " How canst thou talk of a treas- 

184 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 



ure when we are so poor and in need of everything ? We 
have neither cloth, nor knife, nor table, nor house to eat 
in, nor servant or maid to wait upon us." Saint Francis 
answered in all simplicity and sincerity, "And this is 
just the reason why I look upon it as a great treasure, 
because man has had no hand in 
it, but all has been given to us by 
divine Providence, as we clearly 
see in this beautiful table of stone, 
and in this clear fountain. 
Wherefore let us beg of God to 
make us love with all our hearts 
the treasure of holy poverty." 
The Franciscans went about 
doing good. The name that 
their founder chose for them 
was Fratres Minores, or the lesser 
brethren, for, as he said, none 
could be less, that is, of lower 
degree than they. They cared for the sick, and de- 
voted themselves especially to the loathsome lepers, 
those sufferers who were driven out of the towns as 
too disgusting for folk to look upon. They journeyed 
everywhere, from England to Syria. They had no fear, 

185 




FRANCISCAN 



When Knights were Bold 

and without a thought of danger they went among the 
Mohammedans. Francis asked the suhan to have a great 
fire built, " And I will enter into it together with your 
priests," he said, "that you may see which religion is the 
true one." The sultan replied quietly that he hardly 
thought any of his priests would be willing to make the 
trial. He offered Francis many gifts, which the saint re- 
fused, and then sent him back to the Christian camp. 

Francis insisted upon absolute poverty. He would not 
own even a breviary. A church was given him to be the 
headquarters of his order. He was glad to have its use, (I 
but he refused to own it ; and each year he sent to the 
donors a basket of fish to indicate that it was not his 
but theirs. He loved animals, and if half the legends of 
his intercourse with them are true, they recognized this 
love ; and dogs, doves, and even savage wolves trusted 
him. One of the most beautiful stories told of him is of 
his preaching to the birds. " My little sisters," he said, 
" you owe much to God, your Creator, and ought to sing 
his praises at all times and in all places, because he has 
given you liberty and the air to fly about in, and cloth- 
ing for yourselves and for your young. He has given you 
fountains and rivers to quench your thirst, mountains and 
valleys in which to take refuge, and trees in which to 

i86 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 



build your nests. Your Creator loves you much, and 
therefore he has bestowed such favors upon you. Beware, 







ST. FRANCIS PREACHING TO THE BIRDS 

my little sisters, of the sin of ingratitude, and study al- 
ways to praise your Lord." The story declares that the 
little birds flapped their wings, bowed their heads to the 

187 



When Knights were Bold 

ground, and after he had made the sign of the cross to 
dismiss them, they rose from the earth and flew away in 
four directions, all singing most sweetly. 

Saint Francis cared little for the learning that comes 
from books ; but educated men were charmed with his 
sincerity and his lovable character and became his fol- 
lowers. An order of Franciscan nuns was formed, the 
Poor Ladies; and also the order of the Penitent Men and 
Women. The members of this third order might remain 
in the world, but they were to dress simply, to abstain 
from worldly amusements, to bear no arms save in de- 
fence of their country or the Church, and to pay strict 
attention to the required fasts and times of special devo- 
tion. The dress of the Minorites varied somewhat in dif- 
ferent countries. In England they wore gray ; and there- 
fore in that country they were often called the Gray Friars. 

The Dominicans were founded by Saint Dominic of 
Spain, and from the start this order was made up of men 
of learning. There are many pleasant legends of Dominic 
in his younger days. One says that when he was baptized, 
a brilliant star shone upon his forehead. It is said that in 
time of famine he sold not only his clothes, but even his 
beloved books to feed the hungry. Once he even offered 
to sell himself. He found a poor woman in great distress 

i88 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 



because her son had been taken captive by the Moors. 
"Sell me for a slave," he said eagerly, "and then you 
will have money enough to ransom him." 

The Dominicans were often called the Black Friars 
because of the black cloaks that 
they wore. They took the same 
vows of poverty as the Francis- 
cans. Dominic allowed in their 
cells a bedstead and a rude bench 
and nothing else. Even in the 
church ornaments were forbid- 
den, and the sacred vestments 
must not be made of silk or 
adorned in any way. 

These two mendicant, or beg- 
ging, orders went up and down 
the countries of Europe, caring 
for the poor and preaching to 
them. They always made their journeys on foot. Saint 
Dominic carried a bundle on his shoulder and a stick in 
his hand. In passing through towns he wore shoes ; but 
after he had left a town behind him, he went barefooted ; 
and the sharper the thorns or the stones of the road, the 
more cheery he appeared. 

189 




DOMINICAN FRIAR 



When Knights were Bold 

There was need of preaching. The crusaders had 
learned of Mohammedanism, and some had actually given 
up their Christian faith and adopted the belief of the 
Saracens. While there were thousands upon thousands 
who loved the Church and believed all that she taught, 
there were other thousands who stood off at one side 
and criticised and refused to obey her commands. 
Then something more than persuasion was used. The 
disobedient son was excommunicated, that is, he was shut 
out of the church, and was treated like an outcast. His 
nearest friends, even his own family, were forbidden to 
help him in any way. They were not even allowed to 
sit at table with him. If he died before being reconciled 
to the Church, it was taught that he would suffer pun- 
ishment forever. If this man happened to be a king and 
remained obstinate, his whole kingdom was laid under 
an interdict. Churches were closed throughout the land; 
children could not be christened ; marriages could not 
be solemnized ; no services could be held at the burial 
of the dead. 

Now an interdict sometimes lasted for a number of 
years, and it worked in more than one way. It usually 
forced a king to yield ; but the people who were true to 
the Church it made desolate and miserable ; and those 

190 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 

who were inclined to be careless it made reckless and 
defiant. Strange, new beliefs sprang up that were con- 
trary to the teachings of the Church. The Poor Men of 
Lyons, or Waldenses, taught that there was no reason why 
men should obey the clergy. The Albigenses, who lived 
in southern France between the Garonne and the Rhone 
rivers, believed that the world had been made, not by 
God, but by Satan, and that there was continual warfare 
going on between the two powers, one of good and one 
of evil. These heresies must be put down, the Church 
authorities declared, or soon there would be a terrible 
struggle. 

It had happened that on one of his journeys Dominic 
had spent the night in the house of a man who belonged 
to the Albigenses. All night long they talked of the faith ; 
and before the traveler went on his way in the morning, 
he had convinced his host that the way of the Church 
was the only true way. He now went among the Albi- 
genses, and did his best to convert them, but without 
success. They were protected by the Count of Toulouse ; 
and by the Pope's orders war was waged against him. 
Their towns were destroyed, and large numbers of men, 
women, and children were slaughtered. In Italy there 
were many heretics ; and the emperor commanded that 

191 



When Knights were Bold 

those who were proved guilty should be burned at the 
stake. Other countries followed his example. A system 
known as the Inquisition was established; and now any 
one suspected of heresy could be brought before officials 
appointed by the Church and examined with tortures 
too horrible to relate. If he was pronounced guilty, he 
was given over to the " secular arm," that is, to the state, 
and was burned to death. It was a terrible time; but it 
must be remembered that religious freedom was unheard 
of, and that any belief contrary to that of the Church 
was looked upon by churchmen as a crime against God 
which his followers were bound to destroy. Even a man 
so gentle and merciful as Saint Louis of France did not 
hesitate for a moment to punish heretics with the utmost 
severity. For this work of the Inquisition members of 
the Franciscan and Dominican orders were usually chosen, 
because their vow of poverty would keep them from ac- 
cepting bribes. People gazed scornfully at the magnifi- 
cent buildings of the other monastic orders and said, 
" And those people have taken the vow of poverty ! " but 
there was no question that the mendicant friars were as 
poor as the poorest. No one could think for a moment 
that they were not in earnest, and great numbers of people 
joined the orders. For some years the friars were not 

192 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 

allowed to teach theology in the universities; but the 
learned professors of theology sometimes resigned their 
positions and became Franciscans or Dominicans. 

It is not easy to be in the very midst of life and still 
live entirely apart from the wishes and ambitions of 
those round about. People felt such reverence for the 
begging friars that money was almost forced upon them ; 
and after a while they began to feel the same ambition 
for the greatness, not of themselves, but of their orders, 
that was felt by the monks. Their character changed, 
but in time there came reform and a return in some 
degree to the ideals of their founders. 

Somewhat earlier than the formation of these orders 
of monks and friars that have been described, zealous, 
enthusiastic missionaries preached the Gospel in the 
countries of western Europe. Two of the most famous 
of them were Saint Patrick in the sixth century and 
Saint Augustine in the seventh. Saint Patrick is thought 
to have been captured by pirates when he was about 
fifteen years of age and sold as a slave in Ireland. For 
six long years he led a lonely life, tending sheep on 
the mountain side. He had no one to talk to, and he 
began to talk to God. Sometimes, he says, he poured 
out his prayers a hundred times a day. His eyes were 

^93 



When Knights were Bold 

wide open for a chance to escape ; and at the end of the 
sixth year he succeeded in making his way to his old 
home in Scotland. But in his dreams he often heard 
the voices of the Irish calling, *' Come and teach us of 

the Christ"; and he went to 
France to study and prepare 
to be a missionary. When he 
was ready, he returned to Ire- 
land in a little boat. " Pirates, 
master, there are pirates on 
the shore! " cried a herdsman. 
But when the master and his 
people came with arms to 
drive the pirates away, they 
found a little group of people 
of such noble and dignified 
bearing that instead of at- 
tacking them, he asked them 
to be his guests; and he and his family soon became 
Christians. 

Easter was at hand, and Saint Patrick, as was the cus- 
tom, kindled an Easter fire. This time was also a festi- 
val among the heathen in honor of the goddess of 
spring; and when king Leoghaire went out to light his 

194 




SAINT PATRICK 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 

own fire, behold, he saw one burning on the hill of 
Slane. The law of the land was that while the king's 
fire was ablaze, no other should burn in all the country 
around. The penalty of breaking this law was death. 
Leoghaire sent in wrath for these bold strangers to be 
brought before him to defend themselves. This was 
just what the fearless missionary wanted. On Easter 
Sunday, he and his companions in their fresh white 
robes came into the presence of the king, and told him 
of the religion of Christ. He listened closely, and gave 
them permission to preach in his dominions wherever 
they might choose. This was the beginning of Saint 
Patrick's preaching. Up and down the land he and his 
friends journeyed, teaching the people and founding 
churches ; and when he died, at a good old age, the 
whole country mourned for him. 

It is thought that there were Christians in some parts 
of Ireland even before the coming of Saint Patrick ; but 
no one knows how the faith of Christ first became 
knov/n in the land. In England, too, the earlier inhab- 
itants, the Britons, had learned Christianity; but they 
had been either slain or driven to the westward by the 
Saxons. These Saxons were heathen; and in the seventh 
century. Saint Augustine was sent by the Pope to preach 



When Knights were Bold 

to them. He landed on the Island of Thanet and sent 
word to King Ethelbert, " We are come from Rome, 
and we have brought a joyful message. It assures to all 
who receive it everlasting happiness in heaven, and a 
kingdom that will never end, with the living and true 
God." 

Now the king had married a Prankish princess who 
was a Christian, and probably this was why he was 
willing to listen to these strangers. He was a little 
afraid' that they might bewitch him, however, and when 
he came to hear what they had to say, he refused to en- 
ter a house, and seated himself in the open air where no 
magic arts would have effect. He listened to their preach- 
ing; and then told them that, although their words were 
fair, they were new, and he could not forsake the belief 
which he and the nation had followed so long. ** But 
I will provide you with a house in Canterbury," he 
said, " with food and whatever else you need, and you 
may preach and gain as many as you can to your 
faith." 

So the missionaries preached and prayed. They held 
services in the queen's church, and by and by the 
king himself became a Christian. Then he gave the 
preachers a settled home in Canterbury and property 

196 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 

enough to supply all their needs. So it was that the 
faith of Christ was preached in England. The king was 
ready to build monasteries and churches. Sometimes 
he built them from the foundation, and sometimes he 
repaired a building left by the Romans. In Canterbury 
there was an old church which some of the Romans 
who were Christians had built and used. This he had 
put in order. In later years the more modern church 
that took its place became the cathedral of Canterbury 
to which so many pilgrims went to pray at the shrine 
of Thomas a Becket. 

In Germany a number of Irish priests worked among 
the people in the early part of the seventh century ; but 
when Saint Boniface came from England in 717, he 
wrote to the Pope that " for sixty or seventy years past 
religion had vanished.'* He set to work most heartily 
to persuade the people of Hesse that the religion of 
Christ was true. Some believed what he taught and be- 
came sincere Christians. Many, however, were inclined 
to accept this new teaching, but were a little afraid of 
what their old gods might do to them if they should 
desert them entirely. When they were in quiet and 
safety, they were willing to trust the God of the Chris- 
tians; but when they were in danger, especially if out 

197 



When Knights were Bold 

on a stormy ocean, they thought it was more prudent ,l| 
to call upon Odin and Thor. Boniface discovered that 
some of the people who had been baptized as Christians || 
were in the habit of slipping away into the woods, out 
of the sight of the priests, and there offering up sacri- 
fices to trees and springs. Many, too, were practicing j 
divination and soothsaying. The wise missionary con- 
sulted with some of the most sincere and courageous 
among his followers, and they decided what to do to 
prove to these half-hearted folk that they need have no 
fear of their old gods. It seems that there was an im- 
mense oak tree in the land sacred to the god Thor, and 
therefore called the Oak of Thor. The missionary took 
an axe, and he and his faithful followers went straight 
to the sacred tree. Then the timid folk were thoroughly 
frightened. He raised his axe and struck a blow. " He 
is the enemy of the gods," cried the people, and they 
called down bitter curses upon him, and stood trembling 
with fear. No one knew what would happen, but they 
believed that at the very least fire would burst out and 
destroy this daring preacher. But Boniface kept on until 
he had cut into the trunk a little way; when, behold, a 
gentle breeze rustled the upper leaves, and suddenly the 
top of the tree snapped off and broke into four parts — 

198 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 

at any rate, that is the tradition. Then the people said 
to one another, " That is surely the power of the Chris- 
tian God." They left off cursing the preacher and began 
to praise God. Boniface built an oratory from the wood 
of the tree. He founded monasteries where the monks 
worked on the soil and copied books, helped the poor, 
and showed hospitality to travelers. He longed to die 
as a martyr, and his wish was granted. On one of his 
journeys down the Rhine, a crowd of the heathen sud- 
denly rushed out of the woods. He thought that they 
were coming to ask for baptism, but instead of that 
they attacked him to get the booty which they supposed 
he had with him. He forbade his followers to protect 
him by the shedding of blood; and holding the book 
of the Gospels over his head, he met the martyrdom 
that he desired. 

Not all the missionary work was done by monks and 
saints. There were kings who converted many to bap- 
tism, but by methods decidedly different from the per- 
suasions and arguments of the good missionaries. One 
of the two kings was Charlemagne. His people, the 
Franks, had become Christians; but on their borders 
were the heathen Saxons. There was constant trouble 
between the two peoples, and at length Charlemagne 

199 



When Knights were Bold 

set out to conquer the Saxons, and in the warUke fash- 
ion of the day, to make them Christians. Now, just as 
the people of Hesse had a sacred oak, so the Saxons had 
a sacred statue, which stood northwest of what is now 
Cassel. It represented a warrior holding a banner in 
one hand and a balance in the other. On his breastplate 
was a bear, to indicate courage. On his shield was pic- 
tured a lion resting on a bed of flowers, to express the 
idea that to the fearless warrior battle was a time of en- 
joyment. It is probable that in the first place the statue 
represented one Arminius who won a great victory over 
the Romans, and that its name, Irminsul, had been 
originally Arminius. It stood on a high pillar. Priests 
lived near it to offer up sacrifices, often prisoners taken 
in war, and priestesses here practiced incantations and 
soothsaying. Charlemagne destroyed the Irminsul, and 
pushed on until the Saxons were subdued. He told them 
that they must promise to be faithful to him and that 
they must be baptized. They had little choice in the 
matter, for if they refused, the headsman with his axe 
stood waiting. If they submitted, the royal missionary 
was ready to reward them with gifts. Naturally, they 
promised whatever he wished ; and the converts were 
escorted to the banks of the Lippe River. Thither 

200 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 

came the priests and monks and bishops of the Franks. 
Charlemagne and his nobles became sponsors, and these 
fierce new Christians were baptized without delay. In- 




CHARLEMAGNE INFLICTING BAPTISM ON THE SAXONS 

deed, it is said that somewhat later they found the new 
faith so profitable in the matter of white robes and bap- 
tismal gifts of ornaments and weapons that they came 
every Easter in increasing numbers. The old story says 

201 



When Knights were Bold 

that on one occasion fifty bold Northmen presented 
themselves for baptism. There were not enough robes 
of white linen prepared, and therefore garments were 
hastily cut out of whatever cloth could be obtained and 
sewed up roughly like bags. One of the new converts 
cried in a rage, "I have been baptized here twenty 
times before, and every time I was clothed in the best 
of white garments ; and now you give me a sack better 
fitted to a swineherd than a warrior." 

This was in the reign of a weaker king than Charle- 
magne, but even in his day the Saxons revolted again 
and again and struggled for their freedom. They de- 
stroyed the churches and tore down the crosses. When- 
ever they came to a convent, they left it in ruins. Saint 
Boniface had been buried at the convent of Fulda. The 
monks caught up his body as their greatest treasure and 
fled for their lives. Wittekind, leader of the Saxons, 
finally became a Christian convert and a most zealous 
one. There is a tradition that he made his way into 
Charlemagne's camp in disguise as a spy, and that he 
chanced to enter the tent where mass was being cele- 
brated. Just at that moment the priest was elevating the 
consecrated bread, and as the heathen chieftain gazed in 
amazement and curiosity, a light shone out from the 

202 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 

host, and in the light he saw a wonderfully beautiful 
child, the Christ Child. The tradition says that Witte- 
kind was discovered and taken to Charlemagne, that he 
begged to be baptized and to enter the church, and be- 
came an ardent teacher of his people. 

Another imperial missionary was King Olaf Trygvas- 
son of Norway. He had a wild, strange boyhood. He 
was captured by pirates and sold as a slave. He became 
a fearless viking, and succeeded in making his way back 
to Norway and getting possession of his great-grand- 
father's throne. In Longfellow's Saga of King Olaf, he 
says that the king was 

Trained for either camp or court, 
Skilful in each manly sport, 

Young and beautiful and tall ; 
Art of warfare, art of chases, 
Swimming, skating, snow-shoe races, 

Excellent alike in all. 

King Olaf loved warfare, the din of armor, and the 

flashing of steel, and one of his commands to his skald, 

or poet, was 

Sing me a song divine, 

With a sword in every line. 

It was probably on one of his viking voyages to Eng- 
land that he became a Christian. He was as much in 

203 



When Knights were Bold 

earnest in his religion as in his fighting, and he set to 
work to make his countrymen Christians whether they 
would or not. Christianity was not new in Norway ; 
but the Norwegians had little idea of giving up the old 
ways. King Olaf persuaded, he bribed, he threatened, 
he even tortured ; and before his reign of five years was 
at an end, he had made Norway an exceedingly un- 
comfortable place for any one who persisted in worship- 
ing heathen gods. In a fascinating old book. The 
Heimskringla, or Chronicles of the Kings of Norway ^ which 
has been translated from the Icelandic, are the stories 
of Olaf. Longfellow has put many of them into verse. 
At one time when King Olaf had called a meeting 
of his people, they came fully armed to demand that 
he restore the old worship of the gods and offer up sac- 
rifices. Olaf was a match for them. He said, " If I, 
along with you, shall turn again to making sacrifices, 
then will I make the greatest sacrifices. I will not offer up 
slaves or malefactors, but men of note and high degree.'* 
He named eleven of the prominent men present, and 
ordered them to be seized at once. Then he strode into 
the temple and smote the images of Thor and Odin and 
the other gods and dashed them to the floor. Without 
the temple there was a sound of fighting between the 

204. 



Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries 

men at arms and the peasants. There was a shout of tri- 
umph and a wail of sorrow; and as Olaf stood in the 
doorway, he saw the dead body of Iron-Beard, strongest 
of his foes. Longfellow thus tells the ending of this 
story of King Olaf's missionary work : — 

King Olaf from the doorway spoke : 
" Choose ye between two things, my folk, 
To be baptized or given up to slaughter.' " 

And seeing their leader stark and dead, 
The people with a murmur said, 
" O King, baptize us with thy holy water." 

This fashion of carrying on missions in the eleventh 
century was little like the methods pursued in the twen- 
tieth ; but no one can say that it was not at least ener- 
getic and sincere. 



CHAPTER X 

LIFE IN TOWN 

Some of the towns in Europe had existed since the days 
of the Romans, but those that grew up during the Mid- 
dle Ages were usually situated near some convent or cas- 
tle. A large convent served as an inn for travelers ; it had 
the care of many manors ; and often it was also a school 
and a place of pilgrimage. The castle, too, entertained 
a large number of guests and controlled numerous man- 
ors. Men were needed at both places for all sorts of 
work, and there was a sale for whatever they produced. 
Moreover, they were sure of protection ; and these were 
three good reasons why people should make their homes 
under the walls of convents and castles. Occasionally it 
came to pass that a manor village grew into a town. If it 
chanced to have a particularly strong manor house with 
moat and heavy stone walls, it might put up fortifications 
and prove itself so valuable as a defense that the lord was 
very willing to have it become a town. He would give 
it a charter, or written promise of privileges and protec- 
tion ; and this would bring many more people within its 

206 



Life in Town 

walls to increase his income by their taxes. Sometimes 
a town was founded by a king or noble, who decided 
that a certain place was a good location. The story is told 
that once when Edward I of England was on a hunting 
expedition, his attention was attracted to a tiny village 
on the wide river Humber near which some shepherds 
were watching their flocks. '* That would be a most ex- 
cellent place for a fortress," he said to himself, "and a 
city there would be sure to carry on a great deal of com- 
merce." He asked the shepherds how deep the river was 
and to what height the tides rose. The land belonged to 
a convent, but the abbot was willing to take other land 
in exchange. Then the king published a charter, declar- 
ing the rights that he would give to all merchants who 
would carry on their business in the place. So it was that 
the town of Hull was founded. A wall and towers were 
built for defense, and the settlement flourished. The fact 
that it is to-day a city of a quarter of a million of inhab- 
itants proves the wisdom of Edward in choosing its 
location. Such a made-to-order town was commonly 
spoken of as the new town or the free town. Sometimes 
it never received any other title ; and that is why we have 
such names as Neustadt and Freiburg in Germany, Vil- 
lanueva and Villafranca in Spain and Villeneuve and Ville- 

207 



When Knights were Bold 

franche in France. King Edward was not so fortunate 
in another of his towns, that of Winchelsea. The old 
settlement had been washed away by the ocean, and the 
king laid out another one on a new site two miles away. 
But the French had their eyes open, and they pounced 
down upon it before the walls were done. People did 
not take a liking to it, and in spite of the king's efforts, 
it never flourished. Curiously enough, within the last 
four hundred years, the sea, which had laid the old town 
in ruins, has retreated from the new town, and the former 
seaport is now a village a mile and a half from the ocean 
and surrounded by a salt marsh. 

Italian towns were stronger and larger than those of 
France. Each one held wide-spreading territories, and 
therefore the whole country was really in their hands. 
Spain had chartered communities earlier than France or 
England. In these Spanish towns citizens of a certain 
amount of property paid no taxes; but if fighting men 
were needed to protect the country, they were bound to 
serve and also to provide horses for themselves at their 
own expense. For this reason, a man's horse could not 
be seized for debt. In France, the citizens must defend 
their land if necessary ; but they could be called out for 
only a limited time and to a certain distance from the 

208 



Life in Town 

walls of their home city. There was another law which 
also tended to make them somewhat independent. This 
was that before they agreed to enter upon any piece of 
military service, they had a right to take into account 
the nature of the cause for which they were called into 
service. This was an excellent arrangement ; for if two 
nobles, for instance, took up arms because of some triv- 
ial quarrel, the citizens could not be forced to join in it. 

A town, then, in the Middle Ages was simply a large 
village with walls and towers. It had special privileges, 
granted by the king or by the convent or the noble in 
whose province it was situated, and it was sure to gain 
more either by purchase or by some shrewd bargaining 
with the owner in his time of need. A town usually had 
many customs peculiar to itself. At Chester in England, 
if a fire caught in a man's house and the flames spread, 
he must pay his next neighbor two shillings, and pay the 
town a fine of five shillings. In some of the English towns 
it was the rule for the mayor and corporation to walk 
once a year around the boundaries, inspecting the land- 
marks. A company of children were taken with them, 
and in order to impress the limits upon their minds, 
copper coins were given to them at each turning; a far 
more agreeable method than the old Roman fashion of 

209 



When Knights were Bold 

sacrificing a lamb or a pig at every corner. To be called 
a city, a town must be the residence of the bishop. For 
a long while, a town was as much a piece of private pro- 
perty as a manor. Its lord could sell it if he chose, and 
the citizens could do nothing to hinder him. The value 
was somewhat in proportion to its size. It was therefore 
of advantage to the owner to have the number of inhab- 
itants increase, and strangers were usually welcome. 

The walls about a town were thick and high. Watch- 
men were always on guard to give the alarm at the ap- 
proach of an enemy. The houses were built of various 
materials. There were cottages of mud, and there were 
comfortable residences of brick. Some were built of 
wood with the framework arranged in elaborate pat- 
terns. Others were ornamented with plaster decorations 
and painted panels. In many cases, the lower story was 
of stone and the rest of the house of wood. Roofs 
thatched with straw or reeds were common for a long 
while ; but at length it was required that tiles should 
be used. Windows were sometimes glazed, and some- 
times the space was filled in with wooden lattice work. 
There were churches and inns for travelers, and there 
was always a town hall in which the business of the 
town was transacted. The town halls on the Continent 

2 lO 




A MEDIEVAL STREET AND TOWN HALL 

2 11 



When Knights were Bold 

were larger and more splendid than those in England; 
but the English halls were not to be ashamed of by any 
means; for it was a matter of pride with a town to have 
as handsome a hall as could be afforded. 

By far the greater number of people in a city were 
either craftsmen, that is, manufacturers of various arti- 
cles, or merchants. To become a craftsman required a 
long training. If a boy wished to be a carpenter, for in- 
stance, his parents selected some master carpenter and 
asked him to take their son as an apprentice. If he was 
willing, both parents and master signed a formal agree- 
ment. The parents gave their son into the charge of 
the master for a fixed number of years, promising on 
the boy's part that he would be obedient and diligent 
and would not tell any of his master's secrets. The 
master agreed to give the boy a home and his clothes 
and to teach him all that he himself knew about the car- 
penter's trade. The boy was not supposed to be of much 
service during the first years of his apprenticeship; but 
long before the end of his time had come, he was ex- 
pected to be able to assist his master enough to pay him 
for all previous trouble and expense. 

After the boy had learned the trade and his time was 
up, he became a journeyman. This name is thought to 

2 12 



Life in Town 

have come from the French journee^ meaning day^ be- 
cause he worked by the day. Many journeymen never 
rose any higher, but an industrious workman could soon 
save enough money to set up for himself, which meant 
becoming a master, having a shop in his own house, 
hiring journeymen, and taking apprentices. Providing 
himself with tools was not a difficult matter, for they 
were few and simple. Two axes, an adze, a square, and 
a spokeshave were all that were necessary ; and their 
combined cost was only one shilling. Materials were 
often supplied by the customers. No journeyman was 
allowed to become a master until he had presented a 
masterpiece^ or an excellent piece of carpentry to the 
gild, or society of carpenters, and had thus shown to 
them that he was able to do work that would meet 
with their approval. 

The merchants varied in rank from the great im- 
porter whose vessels sailed wherever desirable exports 
could be found to the small tradesman whose little shop 
was in his own house. Some of these merchants were 
both rich and generous, and attained to high positions 
in affairs of state. They built for themselves handsome 
houses that were probably decidedly more comfortable 
than the castles of the time. The house of one of the 

213 



When Knights were Bold 

smaller traders was usually a combination of shop and 
home and storehouse. The building was generally nar- 
row and high with a gable overlooking the street. In the 
gable was a door, and from this door a crane projected. 
The lower floor was a basement or cellar. The first floor 
was given up to the shop. Above that was the living 
room, and back of the living room was the kitchen. The 
floor above was the general sleeping room, and over this 
was the great garret. This was used as a storeroom, and 
goods, were lifted to it by means of the crane in the gable. 
Often a '* salesroom" was merely a bench under a porch. 
Here whatever the workman made was spread out for 
the passers-by to see, and purchase if they would. Many 
signs swung over the street, and on each of them was 
painted some device to suggest the business of the house. 
The boar's head — a favorite Christmas dish — was 
often adopted as a tavern sign. The pilgrims in Chau- 
cer's Canterbury Tales spent the night at the Tabard 
Inn; and doubtless this had a wooden sign representing 
a tabard, or sleeveless jacket worn over armor. The Fly- 
ing Horse was the name of a tavern in Canterbury, and 
we can easily guess what the sign must have been. The 
ivy was sacred to Bacchus, the god of wine, and there- 
fore the custom arose of putting a spray of vine or even 

2 14 



Life in Town 




SHOPS ON THE STREET 



215 



When Knights were Bold 

a green bush over the door of a place where wine was 
sold. To this day the mortar and pestle often indicate 
an apothecary's; the shop of the pawnbroker is marked 11 




A MEDIEVAL HOTEL 



not by a name, but by three golden balls, taken from 
the arms of the Lombards, the first great money-lenders 
in England ; and the twining stripes of the barber's pole 
signify either the flowing blood or the bandages used in 

2 l6 



Life in Town 

bleeding, for in early times the barbers were also the 
bleeders. 

The streets in mediaeval days were narrow and, ex- 
cept in made-to-order towns, they were crooked and 
rambling. The upper stories of the houses often pro- 
jected so far over them that opposite neighbors could 
almost shake hands from their windows. In front, the 




A MEDIEVAL GARDEN SCENE 



217 



When Knights were Bold 

houses must have been rather gloomy, but back of them 
there were usually gardens, which must have been a 
great delight to the good folk of the time; for they 
not only walked in them, but played chess and danced 
and ate their dinners in them. In England, lilies and 
roses seem to have been the favorite flowers; but mari- 
golds, poppies, violets, and foxgloves were often seen. 
Many plants were cultivated as medicines, among them 
sage, mallows, and nightshade. In the vegetable gar- 
dens there were lettuce, cresses, onions, melons, cucum- 
bers, and beets. Apples and pears were common, and 
cherries seem to have been well known and general 
favorites. Every year, when the cherries were ripe, 
feasts or fairs were held in the orchards, which were 
called cherry 'fairs. People seemed never to weary of 
trying experiments on the cherry tree. An old book on 
gardening declared that grapes could be made to ripen 
as early as cherries. This is the way it was to be done: 
A grapevine must be set out beside a cherry tree; and 
after it was growing thriftily, it must be drawn through 
a hole bored through the tree. The bark of the vine 
was to be cut away from the part that went through 
the tree, and the hole must be completely filled. After 
a year had passed, the vine was supposed to be so much 

218 



Life in Town 

at home in the tree that its own roots might be cut off, 
and it would find its food in the sap of the cherry. It 
was a faithful monk who gave this recipe; but one can- 
not help wondering whether he had ever tested it or 
only reasoned it out in his cell; and whether, even if 
it was a success in the fifteenth century, the daring gar- 
dener who ventured to try it in the twentieth would 
not come to grief. Any one who is more fond of pome- 
granates than peaches may wish to try another recipe 
that seems to have been in good standing at about the 
same time. This one bade that when the peach-tree was 
in bloom, it should be sprinkled with goat's milk several 
times a day for three days, whereupon it would not fail 
to produce pomegranates. Surely this was a far simpler 
and easier method than grafting. There was ample 
opportunity for even the Londoners to try all such ex- 
periments; for, besides the smaller gardens within the 
city, there were large and spacious orchards just beyond 
the walls with plenty of room for trees of all sorts. 

Outside the city wall was a ditch or moat two hun- 
dred feet broad. This was dug in the early part of the 
thirteenth century as a means of fortification; and for 
many years it was kept in good order. At length, how- 
ever, it became so foul that every householder in Lon- 

219 



When Knights were Bold 

don was taxed fivepence, the price of a day's work, to 
help pay for cleaning it out. More agreeable waters 
abounded on the north side of the city; for there lay 
pastures and meadow land rich in springs and streams. 
The springs were all named, and a number of them 
were walled in. Richard Whittington, the hero of the 
nursery tale, " thrice lord mayor of London," left 
money to build a stone coping about one of them. In 
the thirteenth century water was brought into the city 
in lead pipes, " for the poor to drink, and the rich to 
dress their meat." In the clear streams the mill-wheels 
turned merrily about, and the crops grew abundantly in 
the fertile soil. 

Toward the end of the twelfth century a law was 
passed that the lower parts of houses at least should be 
built of stone and the roofs should be covered with slate 
or tile. This was to prevent destruction by fire. William 
Fitzstephen, clerk of Thomas a Becket, archbishop of 
Canterbury, wrote an account of London in his time, 
the latter part of the twelfth century, and he says that 
** the only pests of London are the immoderate drinking 
of fools and the frequency of fires." Some years later, 
a man built a house with a lofty tower of brick, which 
seems to have greatly annoyed the Londoners. They 

220 



Life in Town 



looked upon it as manifesting a desire on the part of the 
owner to show himself superior to his neighbors ; and 
folk thought that the blindness which came upon him 
was a deserved 
punishment for his 
pride. The second 
house that was built 
with a tower **to 
overlook neigh- 
bors" was reared 
by a young tailor. 
The poor young 
man was soon at- 
tacked by gout and 
was not able to 
climb his own 
stairs ; and this was 
rather uncharitably 
regarded as a judg- 
ment come upon 

him. It is possible that the next owner of this house 
did not venture to retain the tower; for the record 
says "he new buildeth it." No historian has handed 
down the name of the person who built the third tower, 

22 1 




A TOWN HOUSE 



When Knights were Bold 

but it must have been a man of unbounded fearlessness 
and audacity. 

Even stonebuilt houses were not places of safety in 
the troublous times of the twelfth century. It was a 
common practice for bands of wealthy young men to 
roam the streets at night, killing any one whom they 
chanced to meet and breaking into houses. One of 
these fashionable ruffians was finally captured. He 
offered the king five hundred pounds of silver to let 
him go free ; but the king commanded him to be hanged, 
and for a long while citizens slept more peacefully. 

One convenience of the city Fitzstephen felt to be the 
very height of luxury. This was a cookshop on the bank 
of the river. He says that if unexpected visitors arrived, 
their host could slip down to the river bank, and there 
he would find fish, fowl, and meat, fried, roasted, or 
boiled, as he would, to carry to his hungry guests. Fitz- 
stephen had unlimited confidence in the resources of this 
cookshop, for he declared that, no matter how great a 
multitude of soldiers or travelers entered the city at any 
hour of the day or night, they could be quickly served 
with all the delicacies of the season. Either the " mul- 
titude " of the Middle Ages was not so very large, or 
this really was a most remarkable cookshop. 

222 



Life in Town 

London had many churches, and it was well supplied 
with hospitals. These latter were for the blind or poor 
or insane or for lepers. Richard Whittington endowed 
an almshouse which he called " God's House," for thir- 
teen poor men. Thirteen was a favorite number in chari- 
ties ; but often there were restrictions far more whimsical 
than this. At the close of the fifteenth century, some- 
what later than the Middle Ages, King Henry VII en- 
dowed a home for thirteen poor men. One must be a 
priest, forty-five years old and a '* good grammarian." 
The other twelve men were to be fifty years of age and 
without wives. Every Saturday as long as they lived, the 
priest was to receive fourpence a day for his food. The 
others, who perhaps were not so good grammarians, were 
to receive only twopence-half-penny a day. Every year 
each man was given a gown and hood. The charge of 
the house, the cooking, and the care of the poor men in 
illness was put into the hands of three women, each of 
whom was to receive one gown each year and sixteen 
pence every Saturday. Coal and wood were provided ; 
and it was ordered that "a discreet monk," who was to 
be paid forty shillings a year, but was to receive no gown, 
should be overseer of all. 

Many persons of wealth gave away food in large quan- 

223 



When Knights were Bold 

titles. One kind-hearted bishop had every week more 
than two hundred pounds of wheat made into bread to 
give to the poor. One of the archbishops of Canterbury 
gave on Fridays and Sundays a loaf of bread to every 
beggar who came to his gates ; and sometimes there were 
five thousand of them. To people who were too sick or 
too feeble to come, he sent meat, bread, and drink, and 
often money and clothes. One of the oddest of charitable 
whims was that of Henry III in the twelfth century. 
Soon after the close of the Christmas season, all the poor 
and needy boys and girls that could be found were 
brought into a great hall and made comfortable before a 
big fire. Soon they saw a rare and wonderful sight, for 
the king's children, the princes and princesses, were led 
into the room. These royal youngsters were carefully 
weighed, and a quantity of food equal to their weight 
was distributed among their hungry guests. 

There seems to have been a good supply of schools in 
London, for in the twelfth century there were three espe- 
cially notable and also a number of lesser fame. These 
were connected with churches, and upon festival days 
people flocked to their doors to listen to the boys. The 
good folk of that time believed that the surest proof of a 
pupil's diligence and talent was his ability to argue ; and 

224 



Life in Town 

on these occasions the boys did their best to get the bet- 
ter of one another in argument. The listeners watched 
eagerly to see who used good, clear, logical reasoning, 
who manifested skill in persuasion, and who spoke flow- 
ingly, with a lavish supply of words, but with few gen- 
uine arguments. After the more serious part of the pro- 
gramme had come to an end, the boys had a bout of 
capping verses, in Latin of course, and contending about 
the rules and principles of grammar. Then came an hour 
of vast amusement ; for now they set to work to make 
witty rhymes and speeches about one another. They were 
not allowed to mention names ; but they were free to jest 
as keenly as they chose about one another's faults and 
oddities, " nipping and quipping their fellows." Long 
after the formal school exercises in the churches had been 
given up, the boys used to go to Smithfield, or s7nooth 
field, just outside the city, for their duels of argument. 
A platform had been built up under a tree, and upon 
this a boy would take his stand, make some statement 
in grammar or philosophy, and uphold it until he was 
argued down by some boy of keener wit. This second 
boy then mounted the platform and upheld some state- 
ment of his own choice until he, too, was obliged to 
yield. At the close of the arguing, prizes were given to 

225 



When Knights were Bold 

those who had done best. After a while these debates 
were given up ; but the tradition was handed down by- 
one class of boys to another, and even in the sixteenth 
century, they were continued in a fashion that perhaps 
entertained the boys quite as much as the more formal 
displays of earlier times. The most famous school in the 
thirteenth century was that of the cathedral of Saint 
Paul's. Its pupils were called " Paul's pigeons " because 
many pigeons were bred about the church. A later, but 
most excellent school, was that of Saint Anthony's. 
There was a legend that this kind-hearted saint had been 
followed about by a favorite pig. No boy would forget 
that story, and of course the pupils of Saint Anthony's 
were nicknamed "Anthony's pigs." When a company 
of "Paul's pigeons" chanced to meet some of "An- 
thony's pigs " in the street, some boy from one group 
was sure to demand of the other group, " Will you hold 
an argument with me?" This was a challenge which 
could not be slighted. Some question in Latin grammar 
was chosen, and the contest proceeded, first by argument, 
but before long by blows with fists and satchels of books. 
The challenge was always made in Latin, " Salve tu quo- 
que, placet tibi mecum disputare? " but it came to mean 
little more than the very modern, " Hello, want to fight?'* 

226 




A GAME AT BALL 




THE .GAME OF KALES 




WHIPPING-TOP 



227 



When Knights were Bold 

But the amusements of London were not limited to 
Latin contests and street brawls. On Shrove Tuesday of 
each year, the schoolboys carried game cocks to school, 
and all the forenoon master and pupils watched them 
fight. In the afternoon, the young men of the city went 
to the ball ground to play, while their elders cantered 
out on horseback to watch the game. Every Friday in 
Lent some of the young men went through various 
manoeuvres on horseback, and others with shields and 
blunted lances carried on a mimic war. After a while 
this was given up, and the knights' practice with the quin- 
tain took its place. Prizes were given to those who did 
best. The favorite prize was a peacock. At Easter time, 
the banks of the Thames, the wharves, bridges, and houses 
were filled with people waiting to see an interesting sort 
of naval contest. A pole was firmly fixed in the midst 
of the stream, and on it a shield was hung. The young 
man who was to try his fate took his position with lance 
in hand in the bow of a little boat some distance above 
the pole. He had neither oars nor paddle, but the cur- 
rent filled the place of both, for a time was always chosen 
when the tide was going out rapidly. The feat was to 
charge upon the shield with the lance and not lose one's 
balance. If the lance did not break, the contestant was 

228 



Life in Town 

sure to tumble into the water. The unlucky youth was 
in no danger ; for on each side of the shield were two 
boats full of men to rescue him ; but the shouts of laugh- 
ter that echoed up and down the river must have been 
worse than the wetting. All summer long there were 
sports of different kinds, such as leaping, dancing, wres- 
tling, shooting, and casting the stone. When winter had 
come and the flats north of the city were frozen, then 
there was sliding on the ice, which Fitzstephen describes 
as follows : " Some, striding as wide as they may, do 
slide swiftly." Another amusement was for one to take 
his seat upon a cake of ice "as big as a millstone," while 
his companions took hold of hands and drew him about. 
The interesting part of this amusement seemed to be that 
the "horses" frequently slipped and all tumbled down 
together. Another sport was evidently a forerunner of 
skating. Fitzstephen describes it thus : " Some tie bones 
to their feet and under their heels ; and shoving them- 
selves by a little picked staff, do slide as swiftly as a bird 
flieth in the air, or an arrow out of a cross-bow." One 
exercise which seems to have been required of the young 
apprentices was to practice with bucklers and " wasters," 
or blunt-edged swords, in front of their masters' doors 
at twilight. The girls were not forgotten, for garlands 

229 



When Knights were Bold 

were hung across the streets as prizes, and for these the 
maidens danced to the music of a timbrel, or drum. It 
is a pity that all the amusements were not as simple and 
harmless as these ; but the cruel and revolting cock fight- 
ing as well as bear and bull baiting, that is, muzzling 
and tying up one of these animals to be attacked by dogs, 
were not given up even after people became in many 
respects far more enlightened than during the Middle 
Ages. 

In'Smithfield there was held every Friday except on 
specially holy days a horse-market. Everybody went to 
it, earls and barons and knights as well as the common 
citizens. There were horses broken and horses unbroken, 
there were handsome, graceful amblers, there were stead- 
fast trotters for men at arms, and there were strong, sober 
steeds for the plough or farm wagon ; there were pigs 
and cows and sheep and oxen. It was quite allowable to 
keep as many pigs as one chose within the city ; but by 
the fourteenth century the Londoners were beginning to 
feel that the pigs ought not to be permitted to roam about 
the streets at pleasure ; and the stern decree was passed 
that whoever kept a pig must feed it at his own house; 
that is, all pigs must board and lodge at home. Who- 
ever chanced to find one wandering about the streets of the 

230 



Life in Town 

city, had a right to kill it ; and if the owner wished to 
have the carcass, he must pay fourpence for it. Verily, 
as honest Fitzstephen declared, London was " a good city 
indeed " when it had a good master. 



CHAPTER XI 



MERCHANT GILDS AND CRAFT GILDS 

In the Middle Ages there were gilds, or societies, for all 
purposes. There were gilds to mend the walls and bridges 

of their home cities and 



gilds to keep certain roads 
in good condition. There 
were gilds of minstrels 
and gilds of ringers of 
church bells. Indeed, 
there were so many vari- 
eties of gild that one al- 
most wonders how a man 
ventured to light his fire 
in the morning without 
belonging to a gild for the 
kindling of hearth fires. 
In the towns, as has been said before, almost every 
citizen had something to do with manufactures and with 
trade. Perhaps his manufacturing was only making can- 
dles in his own home and selling them from his first 

232 




A DRUGGIST 



Merchant Gilds and Craft Gilds 

floor; but even then it was an important matter for him 
to get his wax as cheaply as the other candlemakers of 
the town. He was interested, too, in having his prices 
and those of the others of his trade nearly the same ; and 
he did not wish foreigners or even people from other 
towns to come in and spoil his sales. It was for these rea- 
sons that the merchant gilds were formed. Probably in 
earlier times all or nearly all of the citizens of a town 
belonged to its merchant gild. The gildsmen called one 
another brethren, and their rules bound them to work 
together and help one another as much as possible. The 
first business, then, of the gild in a town was to look out 
for the interests of its merchants and tradesmen. It pre- 
vented strangers from coming into the town to sell any 
goods unless they paid tolls ; and even then they were 
allowed to sell only certain things whose sale would not 
interfere with the interests of the gildsmen. In many 
places, no foreign merchant was allowed to remain more 
than forty days, and during this time he must dispose of 
all his goods. If a gildsman became poor or sick, his gild 
helped him ; if in time of peace he was thrown into 
prison, his gild came to his aid ; at his death, the gild 
attended his funeral and in many cases paid for masses 
for the repose of his soul. The member owed various 



When Knights were Bold 

duties to the gild. He must pay his dues and lines ; and 
in case of a disagreement between him and another mem- 
ber, he must submit to the decision of the gild. He must 
permit the officers of the gild to examine his goods ; and 
if they found fault with their quality or weight or meas- 
ure, he must obey the gild's orders and mend his ways. 

These merchant gilds often became very wealthy and 
powerful. They were able to loan large sums of money ; 
and, oddly enough, they sometimes loaned it to them- 
selves. This came about because, although the gildsmen 
and the citizens were nearly the same people, they were, 
nevertheless, entirely separate bodies ; and when a town ' 
wanted to borrow money, it would naturally appeal to 
the gild first of all. In many cases, a gild even made 
bargains with the king. It would pay the king the 
round sum that he demanded from the city in taxation, 
and then it was entirely free from him in money mat- 
ters and could collect the amount just as the members 
thought best. 

The merchant gild was of aid to men in manufactur- 
ing goods, as has been said; but there were many mat- 
ters of importance to the manufacturers, or craftsmen, 
which the merchant gilds did not touch. To begin with, 
what the plasterers, for instance, wanted was quite dif- 

234 



Merchant Gilds and Craft Gilds 

ferent from what the shoemakers wanted, and in a 
town where many trades were represented, of course no 
one gild could care for the interests of all. The natural 
thing, then, was for the men of each craft to form a 
gild of their own. This 
was not only a natural, 
but also an easy and con- 
venient thing to do ; for 
those who practiced the 
same craft generally lived 
on the same street, or at 
any rate, in the same 
quarter of the town. 
These newer gilds had 
two special objects. The 
first was to see that every 
member had work. This 
was brought about by 
limiting the number of apprentices who were per- 
mitted to learn any one trade. The second object was 
to make sure that every member's work was good. 
Each craftsman was obliged to allow the gild officers to 
examine his materials and his work both in the making 
and after it was finished. No one was allowed to labor 




AN ARMORER 



235 



When Knights were Bold 

on Saturday afternoons, Sundays, or holy days. Work- 
ing in the night was strictly forbidden. The chief rea- 
son probably was that it was difficult to inspect night 

work, and that with the 
poor lights then used, 
few articles could be well 
made. But there were 
often other reasons given 
for refusing to allow it. 
For instance, in the town 
of Lincoln, England, the 
spurriers' gild forbade its 
members to work longer 
than from daylight to cur- 
few, "by reason that no 
man can work so neatly 
by night as by day." But the decree went on to say fur- 
thermore that if the spurriers were allowed to work at 
night, they would idle about all day and get "drunk 
and frantic." Then, when night had come, they would 
blow up their fires and seize their tools- although the 
fires were a peril to the houses and the noise was a great 
annoyance to the sick, and so became the cause of manv 
quarrels. 

236 




A SPURRIER 






Merchant Gilds and Craft Gilds 



The craft gilds looked out for the interests of their 
members in much the same ways as the merchant gilds ; 
that is, they cared for them in illness, attended their 
funeral services, paid for masses for the repose of their 
souls, and helped their widows and orphans. It was the 
business of the gild to settle, if possible, any disputes 
that might arise between members. Sometimes there 
were disputes between gilds. The work of each craft 
was strictly marked off. 
A man who made shoes 
must not mend them ; 
and a man whose busi- 
ness it was to mend shoes 
was not allowed to make 
them. A man who made 
hats for his trade was for- 
bidden to make caps. If 
one craft did any work 
that another craft claimed 
as its own, then there was 
trouble. For instance, 
a disagreement of this sort arose between the farriers 
and the blacksmiths of York in England. For many 
years " ayther craft trubled other." At length, the 

237 




A SHOEMAKER 



When Knights were Bold 

mayor persuaded them to allow the matter to be settled 

by four men whom he would appoint from other crafts. 

Everything was done to induce the members of a gild 

to treat the other members like brothers, and if any one 

tried to get the better 
of the rest in buying 
material, especially for 
things necessary to life, 
like bread, before the 
others could have the 
same chance, or by 
purchasing all that was 
for sale and then charg- 
ing a higher price, he 
was likely to get into 
trouble with his gild 
officers. 

Every gild had its 
feast day once a year or 
oftener; and every gild had also its patron saint. On the 
day sacred to him all the members put on the gild livery, 
or uniform, and marched from their gild hall to the 
church for services. Another religious duty of the craft 
gilds was the acting of plays, mystery or miracle plays, 

238 




A BLACKSMITH 



Merchant Gilds and Craft Gilds 

as they were called. Long before the Middle Ages, the 
priests in various countries often acted stories from the 
Bible, such as that of the birth of Christ, in order to 
impress them upon the minds of the people. These were 
acted in the church, then on platforms in the church- 
yard. But so many came to see them that the graves were 
trampled upon, and it was decreed that they should be 
acted on other ground. 

These plays did not always follow the Bible narrative 
strictly, but added old legends or any incidents that it 
was thought would interest the people. For instance, in 
one of the plays of The Garde?i of Eden ^ when Adam 
took the apple, he apparently tried to swallow it whole, 
for the play says that it stuck in his throat, causing 
the ** Adam's apple." In the play of The Slaughter of 
the Innocents^ an old tradition is brought in that by 
mistake Herod's own baby son was slain. In the play of 
The Shepherds^ the honest men talk together about how 
to care for their sheep. They sit down and eat their 
supper — bread, butter, pudding, " onyans, garlicke, and 
leickes," green cheese, and a sheep's head soused in oil 
— "a noble supper," as one of them calls it. After sup- 
per, masters and boys are wrestling together when a 
bright star blazes out. They kneel down and pray to God 

239 



When Knights were Bold 

to tell them why it is sent. Then the angel Gabriel ap- 
pears to them and sings, *' Glory to God in the highest, 
and on earth peace, good will toward men." This is 
sung in Latin of course, for it would not have seemed 
to a writer of the Middle Ages at all respectful to repre- 
sent an angel as singing in English. The shepherds 
have a rather hard time with the Latin ; but they make 
out some of the words. They talk about the singing. 
One of them says of the angel, " He hade a moche bet- 
ter Voyce than I have." Then they sing together " a 
merye songe." The angel appears again and tells them 
that Christ is born in Bethlehem. After they have gone 
to find him, the three shepherd boys set out to follow 
their masters. They wish that they had something to 
carry to the Child, but they have only the few things 
that they use themselves. One, therefore, gives the 
Child his water bottle, which he says is good, only it 
needs a stopper. The second takes off his own hood for 
a gift, and the third presents him with a nuthook " to 
pull down aples, peares, and plumes." 

In almost all of these plays there was considerable 
fun-making and " horse-play." Just as the good folk 
of the Middle Ages saw no harm in making a pilgrim- 
age a merry and entertaining little journey, so in the 

240 



Merchant Gilds and Craft Gilds 

mystery plays they demanded to be amused as well as 
instructed. In the play of T^he Flood, Noah's wife is in- 
dignant that her husband has worked on the ark so 
many years without telling her. She declares that she 
will not enter it, and she finally has to be dragged in by 
Noah and his sons. Herod struts about the stage. He 
boasts how mighty a king he is and how easily he can 
destroy the Child who has been born in Bethlehem. 
Then there must have been loud guffaws of laughter 
from the audience when the Devil rushed in and car- 
ried him off. Satan was the clown, the fun-maker ; and 
whenever he appeared, the people watched eagerly to 
see him fooled and cheated by some good spirit. He 
always wore a dress of leather, ending in claws at the 
fingers and toes. The souls of the good were dazzling 
in their white coats, while the wicked were robed in 
black and yellow with sometimes a touch of crimson. 
When Satan and his evil spirits made their appearance, 
they came by way of ** hell mouth." This was a great 
pair of gaping jaws made of painted linen and worked 
by two men. A fire was lighted to look as if hell mouth 
were full of flame. Some of the items on the old ex- 
pense accounts are amusing reading. " For the mend- 
ing of hell mouth," for " keeping up the fire at hell 

241 



When Knights were Bold 

mouth," sound rather alarming. One item was for a 
barrel to make an earthquake, another was for a beard 
for Saint Peter, and yet another for a quart of wine to 
pay for hiring a gown for the wife of Herod. 




HELL MOUTH 



Long before the plays became so elaborate as to de- 
mand so many " properties," they passed into the hands 
of the craft gilds. In the early part of the thirteenth 
century, most of the gilds fixed upon Corpus Christi 

242 



Merchant Gilds and Craft Gilds 

day for their chief celebration. They marched in pro- 
cession, carrying sacred pictures and images of the saints. 
Often members of the gild took the parts of Bible char- 
acters, and at length whole Bible stories were acted. 
These were played in pageants, or great lumbering 
wagons two or three stories high. The lower part was 
covered by a curtain, and here the actors dressed. The 
second floor was the stage upon which the acting took 
place. The third floor, if there was one, represented 
heaven. An attempt was made to have each scene as 
realistic as possible ; for instance, the stage directions 
for the play of The Cfeation ordered that as many ani- 
mals as could be obtained should be suddenly let loose. 
Each gild had its own special play. One would play 
The Three Kings ^ another The Crucifixion, another The 
Murder of Abel, and so on. In England they were so 
arranged that the main stories of the Bible were played 
in the Bible order, beginning with The Creation and 
ending with The Last judgment. Early in the morning, 
the ponderous pageants were dragged out to the differ- 
ent streets of the town. Sometimes men of means paid 
a good price to have them stop in front of their houses. 
As soon as a play had been acted, each one moved on 
and acted the same play in another place. This was 

248 



When Knights were Bold 

usually continued through three days, and a person who 
remained in one place could see the whole cycle of 
plays ; while if he cared to see any one of them repeated, 
he had only to follow the pageant to the next street. 

The plays were entertaining, and that was reason 
enough for bringing together a good audience. More- 
over, to attend them was thought to be particularly 
good for one's soul ; and to do something religious and 
be entertained while doing it, was regarded by the 
good folk of the Middle Ages as a most excellent ar- 
rangement. 

As for the gilds, at first they looked upon presenting 
these plays as an honor and also a religious privilege. 
They chose the actors from their members, and paid 
them in proportion to the length of their speeches and 
the amount of stage "business" for which they were 
responsible. In the play of St. Peier, in Coventry, the 
man who did the crowing was paid fourpence ; but 
when he also attended to the hanging of Judas, he 
received tenpence more. The gild had to pay these 
charges, buy costumes and keep them in order, and pro- 
vide provisions for the actors at rehearsals. It is true 
that collections were taken up in the streets to help pay 
expenses, but ^the burden was still a heavy one. Then, 

244 






/ 







^'ii'ii 



\ 



I ^ 



i',.;'' 



life mm 



'^ 



245 



When Knights were Bold 

too, trades changed with the changing fashions. Some- 
times one trade was divided into two. In 1492 the 
blacksmiths and bladesmiths in a town separated. This 
resulted in two weak gilds instead of one strong one, and 
the whole expense of a pageant was a serious tax to 
each. As time passed, the gilds made strenuous objec- 
tions to keeping up the plays, but now the law stepped 
in and in many towns they were required to produce 
their pageants or else pay a large fine. 

As the craft gilds became more numerous and power- 
ful, the merchant gilds lost in power and slowly died 
away. The craft gilds, too, weakened with changes in 
methods of manufacture, and most of these also disap- 
peared. In London, a number of gilds still exist; but 
the procession which takes place whenever a Lord 
Mayor is to be inducted into office is the last reminder 
of the old trade pageants. 



CHAPTER XII 

How Goods were Sold 

After a man had manufactured something, shoes or 
caps or saddles or swords, as the case might be, after his 
gild had declared that the material was good and that 
the articles were well made, the next question was how 
to dispose of them. 

If he lived in a large town, he could sell many goods 
to the people of the town from the bench in front of 
his house. As has been said, the people of one craft 
lived near together ; and if any one wanted a sword, for 
instance, he went to the street of the sword-makers ; if 
he wanted some cloth, he went to the street of the 
drapers. For bread, he visited the pestours^ for saddles 
the sellers, and for fish the pessoners. If he needed to have 
a window glazed, he called upon the verrours. If he in- 
tended to indulge himself in a new suit of clothes, he 
went to the place of the talliaunders to give his order ; 
but if he purposed only to have his old ones repaired, he 
went to the quarters of the dubbers. 

Many goods were sold in the country, at castles, cot- 

247 



When Knights were Bold 

tages, convents, and manor houses, by pedlars who 
roamed about the land. They packed their merchandise 
into bundles or boxes and slung them over a horse or a 
mule. They carried all sorts of articles for a house or 
a wardrobe, such as caps, hats, girdles, gloves, purses, 
pewter pots, hoods for men, headdresses for women, 
and even musical instruments. These pedlars must have 
been a great convenience to the people who could 
not come to town; but they did not bear a very good 
reputation for honesty. There is an old picture that 
the folk of the time must have enjoyed. It represents 
a pedlar sound asleep beside a tree, while three mon- 
keys are opening his pack and helping themselves to its 
contents. 

Another opportunity to dispose of goods was at the mar- 
kets which were held in many towns from one to three 
times a week. No town could hold a market without 
the permission of the king. This permission was a valu- 
able gift, for every one wishing to sell in the market had 
to pay a toll unless he lived in the town. Sometimes the 
king " gave the market " to an abbey, sometimes to a 
noble, and sometimes to the town itself. Before a new 
market could be established, the question had to be con- 
sidered whether it would be so near some older one as to 

248 



How Goods were Sold 

lessen its tolls, and so injure the " owner." It was a com- 
mon feeling that markets should be not more than six 




TRADES ENTERING A TOWN 
(From a stained-glass window) 



miles apart, in order that people might walk there, sell 
or buy what they wished, and get home before dark. 

249 



When Knights were Bold 

When market day had come, the good folk from all 
about came to town and went to the market-place. This 
was an open space in some central location. Stalls and 
booths were set up and were rented by some of the 
dealers ; others sat on low stools with baskets of eggs or 
rolls of butter or live poultry in front of them and waited 
for customers. In the market-place a cross of wood or stone 
was usually set up ; and often some article belonging to 
the king, such as a glove, hat, sword, or shield, was put 
upon it to show to all people that the spot was under 
the special protection of the sovereign. In some towns 
on the Continent huge stone figures were reared called 
Rolands, perhaps from Charlemagne's famous knight of 
that name. Each Roland bore the sword of justice; and 
the threat was more than an empty show, for whoever 
committed any offense during market time had to pay 
not only the usual penalty, but also a good-sized fine. 

Every market had a court of its own to decide the 
disagreements that are sure to arise where many people 
are buying and selling. It was composed of merchants, 
and was called the court oi pie-powder ^ or more properly, 
pieds-poudres^ that is, the court of " dusty feet," because 
when any dispute arose, the disputants came before this 
court at once, even with their feet dusty from their jour- 

250 



How Goods were Sold 

ney. Each one told his story, and the matter was promptly 
settled. This court was held in a hut or booth called a 




PAYING TOLL 



tollbooth, that is, a booth for collecting tolls. Usually a 
better building was put up for the court after a while ; 

251 



When Knights were Bold 

and this became the town prison, or perhaps even the 
town hall. 

The tolls were of so many kinds that one wonders 
how the traders could have made money enough from 
their sales to pay them all. If a man who was not a citi- 
zen of the market town wished to sell fish, for instance, 
in the market, he must first pay a toll for each load — 
cart-load, horse-load, or man-load — that he brought in. 
For the board on which his fish were laid for sale he 
paid a Tent of one farthing a day ; and every cart-load on 
the board was also taxed one penny. 

After a while little shops were opened in the towns; 
but they had only a narrow variety of articles. Most of 
the towns were so small that it did not pay traders to 
bring very many goods of a kind or to come long dis- 
tances even for market days ; and those who needed large 
quantities or articles from other countries fared poorly 
at the markets. But on one occasion people did gather 
in great numbers, and that was on pilgrimages. On the 
special saint's day of any famous shrine, thousands came 
together. The wideawake merchants were not slow in 
finding this out, and in bringing goods of all sorts to 
such places. This was the beginning of the famous fairs 
that were held in every country in Europe. 

252 



How Goods were Sold 

For these fairs merchants at first put up simple booths 
of green branches in the churchyards, and there sold 
their goods. This was soon forbidden, but they were 
allowed to establish themselves outside the towns. Fairs 
soon began to be held at other places than shrines ; but 
it was always necessary to choose a location that could 
be reached either by good roads or by water-ways. 

The right to hold a fair had to be obtained from the 
king. This was an exceedingly valuable privilege ; for of 
course the tolls were much greater than those received 
from a market. The king usually gave this right to some 
favored nobleman, to an abbey, or a hospital. If a town 
had been burned or had met with any other serious mis- 
fortune, their sovereign did not need to draw upon his 
treasure for a contribution ; he simply granted the town 
a permit to hold a fair. These permits were very defi- 
nite. They stated not only whether the fair might be 
held once, twice, three times, or four times a year, but 
even the number of days that it was allowed to remain 
open. Another privilege of value was that during fair 
time the shops in the neighboring towns were ordered 
to be closed ; and if these were market towns, it was for- 
bidden to hold a market until the fair was over. This 
was not so unjust as it might appear, for the merchants 



When Knights were Bold 

could bring their goods to the fair and probably make 
much larger sales than if they had remained in their 
shops. They had to pay tolls, to be sure, and occasion- 
ally a close-fisted trader would avoid the entrance fees 
by working his way into the fair enclosure much as the 
bad boy of the storybooks gets under the circus tent. 
Most people who sold also purchased ; and as a general 
thing, dealers felt that their toll-money was well spent, 
for at fairs weights and measures were so carefully tested 
that there was far less chance of being cheated. There 
was also another protection for the buyer: if he discov- 
ered that he had been tricked by some merchant, the 
laws of the fair held not only the one man, but all the 
merchants from his home town responsible for the 
amount ; and the goods of any of them could be seized 
to make the buyer whole. 

When a fair was to be held, streets were laid out and 
lined with wooden or canvas booths. People of one 
trade were usually on the same street or row ; and there 
were pewterers' row, tailors' row, and others. The day 
before the fair was to open, officers of the person or 
hospital or church that owned the fair went about the 
town declaring its rules. Every merchant must be in 
his place at a certain time unless he had been delayed 



How Goods were Sold 

by a storm at sea, by some accident, or by robbers. 
There was danger of robbers everywhere ; for the noble 
in his castle often demanded " toll " of any merchant 
who passed near his stronghold. This really meant that 
the noble and his followers dashed out upon any mer- 
chant who was so unfortunate as to be obliged to go by 
his castle. The merchant lost his goods and counted 
himself in luck if he did not lose his life. The officers 
also announced that disagreements would be settled by 
the court of pieds-poudres, and that nothing could be 
sold within several miles of the fair, but whoever had 
anything to dispose of must bring it within the gates. 
They proclaimed how strong the wine and ale must be 
and how much the loaves of bread must weigh. These 
officers tested the weights and measures. If any false 
ones were discovered, they were burned, and the owners 
were obliged to pay fines. 

It was forbidden to make any sale until the fair was 
opened ; but when the hour had come, a trumpet was 
blown as a signal, and trade began at once. There were 
swarms of people from town and country. There were 
merchants from distant lands, there were knights and 
ladies and peasants, there were jesters and jugglers and 
minstrels. Stewards of large abbeys were there to lay in 

255 



When Knights were Bold 

a year's supply of salt, spices, wine, fur, and linen ; and 
humbler folk were there to buy the few little dainties 
that would be their only luxuries for the year to come. 
Iron goods, tar, gold, cattle, horses, wool, hides, cloth, 
velvets, ribbons, silks, satins, hay, grain, glass, copper, 
flax, salt fish, wax, tallow, honey, oil, resin, pitch, tim- 
ber, armor — these were only a few of the articles that 
were for sale. There were, too, so many kinds of amuse- 
ments that every one could find entertainment. Jugglers 
did their sleight-of-hand tricks ; minstrels chanted ro- 
mances; trained bears went through their performances; 
cheap jacks sold their quack medicines; wrestlers showed 
their strength and skill ; and dancers balanced themselves 
on their hands rather than their feet. 

Fairs were not only a great convenience for buyers 
and sellers, but they were a help in keeping prices steady. 
Small quantities of goods brought into a town would 
often command a high price, because there might 
not be enough for all that wanted them ; but if the 
people knew that in a short time the same sort of goods 
would be for sale at a fair near at hand and at a reason- 
able cost, they would wait, if possible. This would 
lessen the demand for the goods, and only a fair price 
could be obtained. 

256 



How Goods were Sold 

Fairs were held, as has been said, throughout Europe. 
The journeys of the crusaders had shown what comforts 




A MARKET SCENE 
(From a stained-glass window) 



and luxuries there were in the world. People had devel- 
oped new tastes and they made new demands. They 



When Knights were Bold 

would have thought themselves ill-treated indeed if 
they had had to depend upon a town market to supply 
their wants. In England, the largest fair was that of 
Stourbridge, near Cambridge. Its streets and booths were 
spread over an area half a mile square. Some of these 
streets were named for the trades represented and others 
for the nations represented. Stourbridge fair lasted a 
month, and during this time there were immense sales 
of both English and foreign productions. Two seaports 
specially liked by merchants on the Continent were near 
Stourbridge, and vessels came in by scores loaded with 
foreign goods. Italy sent silks and velvets and glass of 
her own manufacture, and also cotton, spices, and manu- 
factured articles from the East. From France and Spain 
came quantities of wine. Flemish ships brought fine 
linen and woolen cloth. The Hanseatic League, or union 
of German towns that ruled the commerce of northern 
Europe, brought many products of the north, such as 
iron, copper, timber, salt fish, and meat, furs, grain, 
amber, dried herring, resin, and pitch. As time passed, 
the business of the League spread to the south and west, 
and then this great mercantile union brought wine and oil 
and salt from France and Spain and Portugal. At Stour- 
bridge the League merchants bought barley for the 

258 



How Goods were Sold 

breweries of Flanders, together with large numbers of 
horses and cattle. Most of all, however, they wanted 
wool to sell to the various towns where it was to be 
woven into cloth. England raised such vast quantities 
of wool that its sale brought in large amounts of money. 
It was looked upon as an important source of the coun- 
try's wealth, and to this day when the Lord Chancellor 
enters the House of Lords, he takes his seat upon a large 
square bag of wool covered with red cloth. 

Another famous English fair was held at Winchester. 
This dates from the time of William the Conqueror. 
He allowed the Bishop of Winchester to hold it for one 
day in the year; but William's greatgrandson, Henry II, 
allowed it to be held for sixteen days. Whoever traveled 
on a road leading to the fair or crossed a bridge had to 
pay toll. The fair was a valuable bit of property in those 
days; but its chief dependence was upon the sale of 
wool. This sale gradually passed to the eastern ports, 
and the fair dwindled away. 

Often fairs became noted for the sale of some one 
thing. People in England who wanted to buy geese went 
to Nottingham ; those who wanted to enjoy every kind 
of amusement that was dear to the folk of the time 
could hardly wait for the opening of the Greenwich 

259 



When Knights were Bold 

fair. Probably no one ever made a long journey to Bir- 
mingham expressly to buy gingerbread and onions; but 
those were certainly the two articles that had won fame 
for the Birmingham fair. At Smithfield, where the Lon- 
doners went for their sports, St. Bartholomew's fair was 
held. This was famous for some time for wool and 
cloth. Later, the chief sales were of wool and cattle. 
Gradually the character of the fair changed, and it be- 
came simply a place for wild and rollicking amusements. 

It is only seventy years since Saint Bartholomew's 
fair was given up ; and some of the great fairs have con- 
tinued to this day. There is one at Beaucaire in France 
seven hundred years old, where all sorts of rare mer- 
chandise may still be found. The fair of Leipsic in Ger- 
many is even older. It has a most excellent location, 
because it is so central that it can be easily reached from 
any part of Europe. It is still held, and is well known 
for its sales of books. 

The most famous fair that is still in existence is that 
of Nijni-Novgorod, or Lower Novgorod, in Russia. 
This began, no one knows when, in an old custom 
of Russian merchants and merchants from the East 
meeting on the Volga River to exchange goods. The 
place of meeting moved from one site to another, and 

260 



How Goods were Sold 




NOVGOROD 



about one hundred years ago it was permanently settled 
at Nijni-Novgorod. When the time of the fair draws 
near, the Volga River swarms with boats, and the quays 
for ten miles along the river front are heaped up with 
goods, protected as best they may be by sheds until they 
can be removed to the shops made ready for them. 
There are about six thousand of these shops, most of 
them built of stone. To this fair Asia sends tea, cotton, 
silk, madder, and various manufactured wares, made 
chiefly of leather. Western Europe sends groceries, 
wines, and manufactured articles. Russia herself pro- 

261 



When Knights were Bold 

vides four-fifths of the goods sold ; and she makes a fine 
display of iron, grain, salt, furs, and pottery. The fair 
continues for a month. It is estimated that the value 
of the goods sold there each year now amounts to about 
three hundred million dollars. 

An enormous quantity of merchandise was carried 
over Europe every year, and always by water whenever 
there was a convenient river or sea. In the thirteenth 
century goods from India were brought up the Persian 
Gulf and the Tigris River until the point nearest to 
Antioch and Seleucia was reached. Some merchants 
then went directly to these cities, and there put their 
goods on board Venetian vessels. Others went from the 
Tigris northward to Trebizond on the Black Sea by 
caravans. At Trebizond they met Venetian vessels, and 
the spices, silks, cottons, oils, sugar, gums, and precious 
stones of the East were carried through the Black Sea, 
the sea of Marmora, around Greece, into the Adriatic 
Sea, and then to Venice. A third route was to go by 
water from India to Aden, at the southeast end of the 
Red Sea, make a nine-days' journey to the Nile, down 
the Nile to Cairo, through a canal to Alexandria, and 
there transfer the cargo to Venetian vessels. It was 
chiefly through this trade that Venice and, a little later, 

262 




263 



When Knights were Bold 

Genoa, became wealthy and powerful; but in 1497 
three small vessels set sail from Portugal to make a long 
voyage. When they returned, they had rounded Africa 
and so had discovered a new route to India and the East. 
The people of the East were no longer obliged to send 
their goods to Europe by wearisome and dangerous cara- 
van journeys; they could load them upon ships and 
dispatch them directly to Portugal. The power of Ven- 
ice grew less. Genoa was forced to yield to Milan, 
which, like Florence, had won wealth and fame by its 
manufactures. 

So it was that goods were brought from the East to 
Europe. The traders who carried them from southern 
to northern Europe must have been glad that there were 
two such rivers as the Danube and the Rhine; for they 
could load their vessels on the Black Sea and float them 
up the Danube and the Waag, if they were going to 
Russia; or they could continue up the Danube as far as 
it was navigable, go by land to the Rhine River, and 
then down the Rhine to "the quaint old Flemish city" 
of Bruges. They could also go northwest from Venice 
to the Rhine if they wished, and then to Bruges, which 
was for a long while the centre of commerce in the 
north. Many Venetian merchants were accustomed to 

264 



How Goods were Sold 

go all the way by sea, passing through the Straits of 
Gibraltar and up the coasts of Portugal and France to 
Flanders. 

At a time when no one seemed to think it possible to 
do any special thing unless he was a member of a society 
for doing that thing, of course all this buying and sell- 
ing was carried on in great degree, not by individuals, 
but by companies of merchants. This was far more than 
a mere custom. Traders usually had to make long stays 
in the countries where they went to sell goods. It was 
often next to impossible for a foreigner to obtain jus- 
tice, if any disagreement arose between him and a native; 
but many merchants united in a strong company could 
win not only justice, but valuable privileges of trade. 
One of the most important of these associations in Eng- 
land was known as the "Merchants of the Staple." 
The articles exported from England in largest quanti- 
ties, such as wool, tin, and lead, were called staples. In 
order to make sure of collecting the duty on them, laws 
were made forbidding any one to export these things 
from any other place in England except the ten " staple 
towns," Newcastle, York, Lincoln, Norwich, Westmin- 
ster, Canterbury, Chichester, Winchester, Exeter, and 
Bristol. The staple goods were taken to these towns to 

265 



When Knights were Bold 

be weighed and taxed, and then they might be shipped 
to other countries. Wool was the most important staple, 
for until the middle of the fourteenth century, the Eng- 
lish wove only coarse, heavy cloth, and imported their 
fine cloth, chiefly from the Netherlands. Some town in 
the Netherlands was chosen as a " foreign staple," and 
there the English goods must be carried before they 
could be sold. The plans of the government, however, 
for staples were very uncertain. Just as merchants be- 
came well accustomed to one foreign staple town, an- 
other one was chosen. Then it was decided to remove 
the staple to England, then to the Netherlands again ; and 
more than once the whole plan of staples was given up 
for a time, and merchants were free to carry what they 
liked wherever they chose to take it. 

Traders who imported or exported goods in their own 
vessels were called "adventurers," and in England there 
was a famous association called the *' Merchants Adven- 
turers." Fine weaving had at length been introduced 
into England, and the exports which they carried from 
England to the Netherlands were chiefly cloth. In the 
beginning of the sixteenth century, the "Adventurers" 
were great folk indeed, with their governor and twenty- 
four assistant governors, their great wealth, and also their 

266 




267 



When Knights were Bold 

brand-new charter and their coat of arms, both granted 
to them by the king. 

There was one company, however, far greater and 
more famous than all the others. This was the Hanse- 
atic League which has already been mentioned. " Hanse " 
or "hansa" is a word of several meanings. It seems to 
have signified in the first place a society; then the fee 
paid for entrance into a trading gild; then a company 
of merchants trading away from home. The Hanseatic 
League was a union of seventy or eighty cities in north- 
ern Germany. It aimed not only at commerce, but at 
making it safe to travel among these towns and also by 
sea. In those days piracy was looked upon as being dis- 
agreeable, indeed, for any vessel that was captured and 
robbed, but it was, nevertheless, a perfectly respectable 
calling. The German Ocean and the Baltic Sea were 
overrun by a gang of pirates, one of whose leaders was a 
nobleman named Stortebeker. The League sent out its 
vessels in pursuit, captured the leaders and one hundred 
and fifty men. Even if piracy was regarded as respect- 
able, the pirate who was caught was adjudged to deserve 
death, and this nobleman was doomed to be hanged with 
his companions. "Let me go free," he said, "and I will 
give you a chain of pure gold long enough to go around 

268 



How Goods were Sold 

the cathedral and the town." This request was refused; 
but his second wish was granted, namely, that he and his 
comrades might dress themselves in their best and march 
to the place of execution to the music of drum and fife. 
The Hanseatic League aimed at monopolizing the 
trade of the greater part of Europe. It grew stronger 
and stronger. Sometimes the members bought trade 
privileges, and sometimes they fought for them. They 
established *' factories," or trading stations, in as many 
countries as possible. Bergen in Norway was one of 
their chief stations. They paid no taxes, and obliged 
the people to send to Bergen all the productions of the 
land that were for sale. There the Hansards selected 
what was of most value before any sales could be 
made elsewhere. About three thousand members of the 
League lived in the factory at Bergen. They were for- 
bidden to marry or to spend a single night out of 
bounds. The young men and boys were treated with 
the utmost severity. Every newcomer had to undergo 
tortures, one of the mildest of which was to be flogged 
till the blood came. If he survived, the possibility lay 
before him of rising to a high position and gaining 
great wealth. The trade of Denmark and Sweden was 
in the hands of the League. In Russia it was for many 

269 



When Knights were Bold 

years so powerful that it was able to forbid the Russian 
merchants to trade on the sea. The members established 
themselves at Novgorod; and at length became strong 
enough to oblige the Russians to obey whatever laws 
they chose to make. For instance, if a Russian mer- 
chant failed, the League decreed that he must pay in 
full whatever he might owe the Germans before he w^as 
allowed to pay the smallest debt to his countrymen. In 
the Netherlands the Hansards founded a factory at 
Bruges. Here they obliged every passing vessel, save 
those going to England or the Baltic coast, to halt at 
the port of Bruges, pay toll, and allow them to select 
from the cargo whatever they chose to buy. In France, 
Spain, Portugal, and Venice, they carried on trade ; but 
not so widely as in the northern countries. 

In England the power of the League was greatest. 
The English called its members Easterlings, because 
their land lay to the east of England. The German 
money was often spoken of as Easterling, or sterling 
money. It was with this sterling money that the Han- 
sards bought their way to the favor of the English sover- 
eigns. More than once, when an English king was in 
need of gold, the League helped him out of his diffi- 
culties, and in return graciously accepted trade privileges 

270 



How Goods were Sold 

worth far more than the loans that they had made. The 
people of England were not always pleased to have these 
favors shown to foreigners, and during the Wat Tyler 
rebellion in the latter part of the thirteenth century, 
they made a fierce attack upon the Germans. " Say 
* bread and cheese,' " they would command every one 
who was suspected of being a foreigner. If he pro- 
nounced the words with a trace of the German accent, 
he was struck down on the instant. It was easy, how- 
ever, for the Hansards to get their revenge. All that 
they had to do was to tax the English heavily at Bruges 
or Bergen, or to refuse to allow their vessels to enter 
the Baltic Sea or to stop at any port of Iceland or 
Greenland. In the latter part of the fifteenth century, 
however, both Hansards and English had been playing 
pirate, and at length a treaty was actually made between 
them with as many formalities as if this trading com- 
pany had been another nation. 

The headquarters of the League in England were a 
settlement in London known as the Steelyard, probably 
because here stood the great scales called by that name. 
This was a city within a city. Its buildings stretched up 
from the river front, so that the merchandise of the 
League could be unloaded at its own wharves. Here 

27 I 



When Knights were Bold 

stood the great hall, a handsome stone building which 
was used for business meetings and also for a dining 
room. A strong tower protected the treasures of the 
company. Not far away was a garden with trees and 
vines. There were also tables and seats; for the garden 
became a favorite resort for both Hansards and London- 
ers, who went there summer evenings to drink Rhenish 
wine and eat the salmon, caviar, and neat's tongue for 
which it was famous. 

Life in the Steelyard was far from being all play, 
however, for there was plenty of work for everybody 
and the rules of the place were exceedingly strict. No 
one was allowed to marry so long as he remained at the 
settlement. Playing at dice even in one's own room and 
entertaining any person not a member of the League 
were punished by heavy fines. If a man fenced or played 
tennis with an Englishman, he was fined twenty shil- 
lings. If two men indulged in a fight with either fists 
or knives, they needed to have long purses, for the fine 
was one hundred shillings. Every evening, promptly at 
nine o'clock, the door of each dwelling was shut and 
locked and the key given to one of the officers. 

In Norway the Hansards behaved with a high hand, 
demanding whatever they desired and forcing the help- 

272 



How Goods were Sold 

less folk of Bergen to do as they were bidden. In Eng- 
land the German merchants were no less bent upon 
having their own way; but as far as possible, they 




TRANSPORTING MERCHANDISE 



bought privileges rather than demanded them. They 
made liberal gifts, but usually in directions where they 
would " do the most good." The Lord Mayor of Lon- 
don received from them a generous present each year. 

273 



When Knights were Bold 

The English alderman whose business it was to settle 
any disputes that might arise between English and Ger- 
mans was more than willing to accept from the League 
its annual gift of fifteen gold coins worth about one 
hundred shillings, wrapped in a pair of gloves. The In- 
spector of Customs fared even better, for once a year 
a friendly windfall of about four hundred shillings 
delighted his heart. 

In spite of lavish gifts to those in power and of 
princely loans to English sovereigns, the Steelyard had 
to be prepared at all times to defend itself against a 
London mob, and as a safeguard a high stone wall was 
built to shut in the settlement from the rest of the city. 
Every merchant was required to keep in his room a suit 
of armor and a supply of arms in order to be prepared 
for any possible uprising. 

As English merchants grew stronger, their jealousy 
of the League increased. The attacks of the mob upon 
the Steelyard became more frequent, and at length, near 
the end of the sixteenth century, its charter was taken 
away. The later history of the League in other coun- 
tries was much the same. The Hanseatic merchants 
were so successful that the merchants of other lands 
sought earnestly for the same success; and as soon as the 

274 



How Goods were Sold 

different cities and countries became rich and powerful 
enough to manage their own trade, the League weak- 
ened and came to its end. The free cities, Hamburg 
and Bremen, were the last to yield; but in 1888 these 
two gave up their independence and joined the German 
Empire. 

If we judge the Hanseatic League by present stand- 
ards, its methods seem cruel and despotic; but it is a 
long way from the thirteenth century to the twentieth; 
and many things are frowned upon now that were re- 
garded as entirely right and proper seven hundred years 
ago. Remembering this, we can appreciate the fact 
that the record of the League should be looked upon as 
a noble one. It aided the development of industry, it 
spread civilization, it created the commerce of northern 
Europe, and it trained merchants and magistrates and 
sea-captains. In the cities of the League there was cour- 
age and independence, there was industry and enterprise; 
better still, there was an ever increasing appreciation of 
order and of peace. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Schools and Literature 

The schools of the Middle Ages were quite unlike those 
of to-day. They are interesting to read about, but they 
can hardly have been interesting to the pupils; for the 
poor children were treated with the utmost severity. It 
was the general belief that Satan was in them and that 
nothing but frequent whippings would drive him out. 
Even in their own homes, the troubles of children were 
many; for instance, on the twenty-eighth of every De- 
cember, Holy Innocents Day, they were flogged in their 
beds that they might remember Herod's murder of the 
babies of Bethlehem. In many schools boys were flogged 
at regular intervals, whether they had been good or bad. 
In some places, even as late as the fourteenth century, a 
man who had been chosen schoolmaster was given a 
ferule, a rod, and a boy, and was required to show in 
public how well he could administer a flogging. 

Between 500 and iioo the clergy were the only 
schoolmasters. Sometimes the parish priest of a village or 
town carried on an elementary school. There were also 

276 



Schools and Literature 

cathedral schools in charge of the bishops of various 
dioceses; but by far the larger number were connected 
with monasteries. In the earlier part of the Middle Ages, 
from the sixth century to the middle of the eighth, the 
monastery schools of Ireland and of England were by far 
the best. Three or four centuries after the days of Saint 
Patrick, Ireland was known as " the island of saints and 
scholars," and was the most learned country in Europe. 
The pupils built tiny huts near the schools, and in these 
a rich scholar and a poor often lived together, the poor 
serving the rich for his food and clothes. There were 
no prizes, and tuition was free to all who could not 
afford to pay. Most of the studying and reciting was 
done in the open air. Latin was the book language of 
the time, and was used in teaching as soon as pupils 
could understand it; but in the Irish schools Gaelic and 
Greek were also studied. One who had completed the 
course in school and university and become an "ollave," 
or doctor of philosophy, was expected to be able to com- 
pose verses extempore on any subject. He must know 
seven hundred and fifty historical tales and be ready to 
recite any that were called for at feasts. The greatest 
respect was paid to the ollave. He sat next to the chief 
or king. For his support " twenty-one cows and their 

277 



When Knights were Bold 

grass" were given hini. \^ hen he wen: :;: 2 journey, 
he had the right to an escort of twcnty-fcur tutors, ad- 
vanced pupils, and servan:?. It w25 lo -;-: : : as so 
great an honor to entertai:: - :.: .- ^: :e that no 
one below a certain rank was permit:;: 1 :. -:.ve this 
privilege. If in the teacher's old age even his "twenty- 
one cows and their grass*' did not keep him from pov- 
erty, his former pupils were expec:ec 10 care tor him; 
and this was alw^vs done with reverence and tenderness. 

In England, one of the most famous schools was at 
the monastery of Jarrow, where six hundred monks be- 
sides manv strangers and no one knov\^ how manv bovs 
st-iied. The chiei teacher was B.cda, or the A'enerable 
Bede, the first English scholar. He loved the out-of-door 
work that v.as required of the monks, the care of the 
r-^:cen, the sheep, and the young calves: but he loved 
:. ^ books and his pupils. "I don t want mv bovs to read 
a lie," he said, and he translated for them the Gospel 
of Saint John and made for their textbooks collections 
of all that was then known of science and grammar and 
rhetoric. 

During the reign ot Charlemagne, a: some time be- 
t^een 7S0 and 800, the various monasteries wrote to 
him that within their walls pravers would be ottered 

2-8 



Schools and Literature 




7////.'m''AW////.v//v/y//mAm/.'/,r////is7/^^^^^^ 



INTERIOR OF A SCHOOL 



for him. He thanked the monks most cordially, but told 
them plainly that the language of their letters was rude 
and illiterate and bade them begin to studv. He founded 
schools, and he kept watch of them. Once at least he 
examined a number oi the boys' exercises. He found 
that the poor boys had done far better than the rich. 
He praised the poor bovs most warmlv, and then gave a 
severe lecture to the wealthy ones. He told them that 
their birth and riches would count for nothing at all 
with him, and that if thev hoped for his favor, they 
must go to work. 

Charlemagne set these idle pupils a good example, 
for he himself was a student. He tried his best to learn 



279 



When Knights were Bold 

to write; and under his pillow he kept tablets for prac- 
tising; but his great hand was accustomed to wielding a 
mighty sword rather than a slender pen, and he never 
succeeded. He was deeply interested in astronomy, and 
he had a fair knowledge of Greek. Latin he is said to 
have spoken as readily as German. It had long been a 
custom to carry on a school at the Prankish court; but 
the palace school took on new life under the care of 
Charlemagne, for he himself was its most eager member. 
The pupils were the family of the king and the cour- 
tiers. For the older folk, the school was a sort of club 
which met to discuss literary and scientific questions. 
The members dropped their real names and took others. 
Charlemagne chose David, others chose Samuel, Homer, 
etc. One name, Witto, meaning white, was changed to 
the Latin form, Candidus; Arno, meaning eagle , became 
in the same way Aquila. The master of the school, the 
learned Alcuin, had formerly been at the head of the 
monastery school of York. He wrote textbooks for his 
royal pupils. For the king's son Pepin, a boy of sixteen, 
he prepared a list of questions and answers. These are 
rather poetical than scientific. One question is, "What is 
frost?" and the answer is, "A persecutor of plants, a de- 
stroyer of leaves, a fetter of the earth, a fountain of 

280 



Schools and Literature 

water." Some of the questions are hardly more than 
puzzles or riddles. One is, "What is wonderful?" No 
one would ever guess the answer, for it is, " I lately saw 
a man stand and a dead man walk who never existed." 
The explanation follows, that the object seen was a re- 
flection in the water. The king was so eager to bring 
educated men around him that when he was told of the 
learning of Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome, he ex- 
claimed, " Why cannot I have twelve such men as 
these ? " " What ! " cried Alcuin, " The Lord of heaven 
and earth had but two such, and wouldst thou have 
twelve ? " 

In England monasteries and libraries had been de- 
stroyed by the Danes, and when Alfred came to the 
throne in 971, there was not one priest south of the 
river Thames, the most enlightened part of England, 
who could translate a page of Latin into English. It was 
many years before Alfred could win quiet for his land; 
but when peace had been made, he built monasteries and 
sent for learned men, his favorite among them being 
the Welsh priest Asser. Both Alfred and Charlemagne 
realized that people ought to be able to read their own 
language, even if it was not so polished as the Latin; 
and Alfred decreed that all the free young folk of the 

281 



When Knights were Bold 

kingdom should learn to read English, and that only 
those who could give more time to study should learn 
Latin. There were very few English books, and the 
busy man with a kingdom on his hands set to work to 
translate those that he thought best adapted to the needs 
of his people. One was a sort of history and geography, 
written by a Spaniard called Orosius. Alfred made many 
additions of his own; and there is no doubt that they 
were needed, for the book was already five hundred 
years .old. 

This book by Orosius was used as a textbook in Eu- 
rope for many centuries. Other favorites were the writ- 
ings of Bede and the Doctrinale of one Alexander Dolen- 
sis. This was a textbook of grammar and was used for 
some three or four hundred years. The Latin Psalter 
was perhaps the most common textbook. As soon as 
boys had learned the alphabet and could read a little, 
they were promoted to the Psalter. They went over 
this so often that many of them could say it by heart, 
often without knowing its meaning. They learned to 
write with a stylus on waxed tablets ; then they were al- 
lowed to use quills and ink and write on parchment. 
They were taught to sing the Church service. In Latin 
they studied the declensions and conjugations and long 

282 




2?3 



When Knights were Bold 

lists of words, and they also learned Latin conversation 
books by heart. 

As soon as boys had completed this elementary work, 
they began on the trivium^ or three-fold way. This was 
grammar, rhetoric, and logic. In grammar they had to 
learn long lists of answers to questions ; they copied the 
fables of iEsop besides many proverbs and maxims ; they 
read Virgil and some of the Christian poets. In rhetoric 
they studied the works of Cicero and Quintilian. 

At the end of the trivium came the quadrivium^ or 
the four-fold way. This included music, arithmetic, 
geometry, and what was known of the sciences. Even 
the most elementary arithmetic was no easy study, for 
until the Arabic numerals were introduced, the Roman 
notation was used. In speaking, numbers were often in- 
dicated by motions. To place the left hand on the 
breast meant 10,000. To fold both hands, 100,000. In 
business, the abacus was somxCtimes employed, an instru- 
ment made by stringing beads on wires, the first wire 
indicating units, the second tens, and so on. Sometimes 
a board was marked off into spaces, and the numbers 
were expressed by pebbles. The number 2451, for in- 
stance, would be represented as . . | I I . Among 

the studies of the quadrivium, astronomy was especially 

284 



Schools and Literature 

important because the time of the Church festivals was 
reckoned by that science. There were so few textbooks 
that as a general thing the teacher dictated and the pu- 
pils wrote. Then they learned by heart what they had 
written, and were soundly whipped if they made mis- 
takes. Girls were taught in convents by the nuns. They 
learned to embroider, to care for a house, to follow the 
services of the Church and obey her rules, and also to 
read and write to some degree. All learning centred in 
the Church. The monks and clergy were the teachers, 
and the first object of their teaching was to train boys 
for her various offices. No boy was shut out of her 
schools because of poverty. Those who declared that 
they meant to become monks, the oblati, were taught 
and fed free of charge ; the others, the externes, paid 
nothing for tuition ; and if they could not afford to pay 
for food, it was given them by the convent. 

During the tenth and eleventh centuries especially 
there was great interest in chivalry, in the deeds that a 
man could do with his own right arm, in individuality. 
The towns increased in number and size. The crusades 
gave people broader ideas of the world. In Spain, the 
Saracens were searching for the philosopher's stone that 
should turn into gold whatever it touched; and for the 

285 



When Knights where Bold 

wonderful elixir that should give a man youth and life 
for as long as he chose. They were using the Arabic, or 
probably more correctly, the Hindu numerals ; and this 
alone opened a new world for mathematics. By all these 
means the people of Europe were aroused and made 
eager to learn something new. The result of this desire 
was the founding of numerous universities in the twelfth 
century. 

The modern way of founding a university is to raise 
money, obtain a charter, buy land, and put up some 
buildings ; but the method of the twelfth century was 
quite different. Indeed, in those times a university grew 
rather than was founded. Any learned man who be- 
lieved that he had something to say about a favorite 
subject could settle himself near some school and give 
lectures to as many as cared to listen to him. Other 
learned men followed him and lectured on other sub- 
jects. In short, at first anybody lectured and anybody 
listened; and the lecturer who could bring together the 
greatest number of students received the most money in 
fees. After a while, men were obliged to secure a license 
before being permitted to teach. 

The students were not regarded as citizens of the 
town in which the university was situated, and therefore 

286 



Schools and Literature 



in order to protect themselves, those who spoke the 
same language united in one association, or "nation." 
Naturally, they tried to lodge in the same part of the 
city, and sometimes they even built lodgings for them- 
selves. At five or six o'clock in 
the morning, the students in Paris 
thronged to the lecture hall, and 
sat down on the floor on the straw 
or hay with which it was strewn. 
They took notes on waxed tablets 
for several hours. Some of them 
then hurried home to copy their 
notes; others met in a meadow 
playground for wrestling, ball-play- 
ing, running, jumping, or swim- 
ming in the river Seine. Sometimes the different na- 
tions carried on a rough-and-tumble warfare with one 
another. Sometimes they fought with the townsfolk. 
The town could do nothing to control them, for the 
university had no buildings and no apparatus ; and if 
they chose, teachers and pupils could simply put on 
their hats, take up their handful of books, and go else- 
where, leaving the merchants of the town to mourn 
over their loss of several thousand customers. 

287 




SEAL OF ENGLISH "nation' 



When Knights were Bold 

As a general thing, each university became specially- 
excellent in some one branch. The university at Paris, 
for instance, was famed for its teaching of theology ; 
that of Salerno for its instruction in medicine, and that 
of Bologna in lav/. Students wandered from one to an- 
other, learning "in no place decent manners," said a 
monk indignantly. Many who were poor begged their 
food as they journeyed, often singing their petitions. 
One of these songs begins: — 

^ I, a wandering student lad, 

Born for toil and sadness, 
Oftentimes am driven by 
Poverty to madness. 

Literature and knowledge I 

Fain would still be earning, 
Were it not that want of pelf 

Makes me cease from learning. 

He then rehearses his many needs and begs: — 

Take a mind unto thee now 

Like unto Saint Martin's; 
Clothe the pilgrim's nakedness. 

Wish him well at parting. 

So may God translate your soul 
Into peace eternal, 

288 



Schools and Literature 

And the bliss of saints be yours 
In His realm supernal.' 

A great deal of writing was done by these learned 
folk ; but the larger part of it was about philosophy and 
theology. Much of the most interesting literary work of 
the Middle Ages came from the common folk, and was 
in the first place stories and legends recited by one per- 
son to another or songs that were chanted at feasts and 
merrymakings. If in any country there was a brave man 
who was greatly admired by the people, of course the 
accounts of his mighty deeds were told and retold ; and 
there is small doubt that they grew a little more mar- 
velous at each telling. Often they were put into verse. 
No one who repeated them cared in the least whether 
he gave them correctly or not; and each added or al- 
tered to suit his taste. By and by some one welded the 
ballads together into a heroic poem with a beginning 
and an ending. 

The old Saxon, or early English, poem of Beowulf 
is thought to have grown up in this way from the songs 
sung by the harpers before the Saxons left the Continent 
to come to Britain. It is the story of a brave young hero 
from whom the poem takes its name. He kills a hor- 

' Translated by J. A. Symonds. 
289 



When Knights were Bold 

rible monster named Grendel who stalks up from the 
fens in the misty twihght and devours the thanes, or 
followers, of the aged chief Hrothgar. Grendel's mother 
is as terrible as he; but Beowulf dives down to the depths 
of the lake and kills her in her cavern. Hrothgar's men 
stand on the cliff, gazing at the bloodstained water. 
They fear that they will never again see the bold cham- 
pion ; but at last he comes to the surface. Then there is 
feasting and rejoicing, and Beowulf goes home to his 
people loaded with gifts from the grateful Hrothgar. 
He is afterwards slain in a contest with a fire-breathing 
dragon. 

The Nibelungenlied, or song of the Nibelungs, comes 
from Germany in one form and from Scandinavia in 
another. In the German version of the story, the haughty 
and athletic maiden Brunhild declares that she will marry 
no one who cannot in three contests prove himself 
stronger than she. Siegfried, the hero, puts on a magic 
cap which makes him invisible, and then by his help 
her suitor Giinther, king of Burgundy, wins his bride. 
Siegfried's reward is the hand of Giinther's sister, the 
beautiful Kriemhild. They live happily together in the 
Netherlands, enjoying the "Rhine gold," or "Nibe- 
lungen Treasure," which he had seized from the sons of 

290 



Schools and Literature 

the king of the Nibelungs. But the two women quar- 
reled, and Kriemhild let out the secret of the invisible 
cap and the victory of Gunther in the contest. Then 
Brunhild plotted revenge. She learned that Siegfried 
could be slain in one way only, that is, by piercing a cer- 
tain spot between his shoulders, and she induced Kriem- 
hild's uncle, Hagen, to kill him as he knelt by a brook to 
drink. After years of grieving, Kriemhild married Etzel, 
or Attila, on condition that he would avenge the death 
of Siegfried. When a fitting time had come, Attila in- 
vited the Burgundians to visit his court, and there they 
were massacred by the Huns at the bidding of Kriem- 
hild. She slew Hagen with her own hand ; but one of 
Attila's knights struck her down, and she fell dead by 
the side of Siegfried's murderer. The treasure of the 
Nibelungs had been stolen from her and sunk in the 
river Rhine by Hagen; and, if the tale is true, there it 
still lies hidden. 

The Cid comes from Spain. It is a poem about a real 
person, one Rodrigo Diaz, who won the title of El Cid, 
or my lord, by overcoming five Moorish kings. The Cid 
was the hero of many of the feats that the folk of the 
twelfth century counted valorous. He killed the enemy 
of his father and galloped home with the bloody head 

291 



When Knights were Bold 

of the foe hanging from his horse's collar. He drove 
away the invaders of Spain, and he captured cities; but 
his greatest exploit of all took place after his death. 
Without him the Spaniards could not expel the Moors ; 
but they well knew that the terror of his name would 
do more than all the arms of Castile and Leon. They 
took the dead body of their leader, dressed it in battle 
array, with a sword in the cold hand, with a coat of 
mail, a shield, a helmet, and a lance, mounted it on 
Banieca, their lord's favorite war horse, set it at the head 
of the line, and then went forth to battle, with the dead 
rider at their head. The enemy fled before them; and 
after the victories had been won, they laid the body re- 
verently in a tomb in Castile. When the good horse 
Banieca came to his end, he was buried under the trees 
before the door of the tomb. To this day the memory 
of the Cid is so dear to the Spaniards that to swear "by 
the faith of Rodrigo" is the strongest vow of loyalty 
that they can make. 

The most delightful old romances of knighthood are 
about Charlemagne of Germany and Arthur of Britain 
and their knights. Twelve of Charlemagne's followers 
were so equal in bravery that they were known as Peers, 
and sometimes they were called Paladins, or dwellers in 

292 



Schools and Literature 

the palace. They performed most amazing exploits. 
They tamed wild horses, they overcame giants, they 
captured cities, rescued fair ladies, and conquered demons 
who flew over the world on winged steeds. Two of the 
Peers, Roland and Oliver, were once chosen to fight a 
duel in order to settle a disagreement between Charle- 
magne and one of his underlords. Their faces were 
hidden by their helmets, and neither knew who his ad- 
versary was. For two long hours they fought, but 
neither could gain the smallest advantage over the other. 
At length Roland struck so savage a blow that his 
sword stuck fast in Oliver's shield; and at the same in- 
stant Oliver struck at Roland's breastplate so fiercely 
that his sword broke off at the handle. They wrestled 
together, but neither fell. Then they tore off each 
other's helmet, and behold, each found that he had been 
fighting with his dearest friend. "I yield," said Oliver; 
"I am vanquished," cried Roland. It is from this that 
the saying arose, *'A Roland for an Oliver." 

The most famous story of the Paladins of Charle- 
magne is told in the poem called the Song of Roland, 
which relates how the brave knight came to his death 
at Roncesvalles through the treachery of an enemy. 
There is a tradition that when William the Conqueror 



When Knights were Bold 

came to England his minstrel Taillefer rode out in front 
of the line of battle singing this Song of Roland^ and 
struck the first blow at the English for his master. 

Arthur is supposed to have been a British hero who 
resisted the Saxons on their coming to Britain. The ro- 
mances say that he and his knights sat at a famous table, 
round in shape that it might have neither head nor foot. 
They contended with the heathen invaders, they took 
part in jousts and wonderful tournaments, and they had 
wild and bold adventures in their attempts to avenge the 
wrongs that came within their ken. In their hall of 
feasting there was a special seat, or siege, for each; but 
one, the Siege Perilous, was vacant, for should any one 
who was not altogether pure in heart venture to occupy 
it, the earth would open and swallow him. One day an 
old, old man led a beautiful youth named Galahad into 
Arthur's hall and bade him seat himself in the Siege 
Perilous; and, behold, when the covering was lifted 
from it, there appeared written on the chair, "This is 
the siege of Sir Galahad, the good knight." 

At this point, the story of Arthur and his knight 
mingles with another, that of the Holy Grail, or the 
cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper. According to the 
legend, this cup was brought by Joseph of Arimathea 

294 



Schools and Literature 




KING ARTHUR S ROUND TABLE 



to Britain. As men became sinful, it vanished, for it 
could be seen by him only who was pure and true in 
heart. It came to pass that one evening while the 
knights sat at supper, a cracking of thunder was heard 

295 



When Knights were Bold 

and a beam of light seven times brighter than that of 
the sun passed through the hall; and in the beam was 
the Holy Grail, but covered with white samite that 
none might see it. The knights took a solemn vow 
that they would set forth and wander through and 
through the world until the vision of the Holy Thing 
should come to them. Their courage was good, and 
their adventures were many, but to Galahad alone, of 
unstained heart, did the vision come. ** Sithence was 
there 'never no man so hardy for to say that hee had 
scene the sancgreall," says the old story. 

From Iceland comes the Heimskringlay or world's cir- 
cle, so named from the first words of the manuscript. 
From Iceland, too, come the Fjdda and the Tounger 
Fjdddy and all three are full of wild tales of gods and 
heroes. One of the best known of the Icelandic tales is 
the saga, or hero story, of Frithiof. The story says that 
as a child Frithiof played with Ingeborg and learned to 
love her well ; but when they were grown up and he 
begged her brothers for her hand, they scorned him and 
drove him away ; for he was but a subject, while the 
father of Ingeborg had been a king. The brothers went 
to war, and the two lovers met in the temple of Baldur, 
the god of beauty and truth. For a man to speak with 

296 



Schools and Literature 

a woman in this temple was looked upon as irreverent 
to the gods; and in punishment Frithiof was bidden to 
go to the Orkney Islands and collect a tribute which 
had long been due. He set off on the dangerous journey 
in his magic vessel Ejllida^ which knew his voice and 
obeyed his word, and after storms at sea and adventures 
on land he brought back the gold. But much had come 
to pass while he had been away. His home had been 
burned by Helge, Ingeborg's brother, and Ingeborg had 
become the wife of a king, Sigurd Ring. Frithiof flung 
the purse of gold in Helge's face and fled to his ship 
Ellida. Over the world he wandered, sailing, fighting, 
winning treasure for his men and fame for himself; but 
all the time longing eagerly for Ingeborg. At length 
he felt that he must know whether she was happy, and 
he made his way as a stranger to the court of King Sig- 
urd Ring. The king begged him to remain as his guest, 
and henceforth wherever Sigurd and Ingeborg might 
be, there was Frithiof, caring for them and saving them 
from danger. 

King Sigurd was an old man, and when the time of 
his death drew near, he called Frithiof to his side. ** I 
have known you from the first," he said. " I have tested 
you and found you ever as true as you were brave. In a 

297 



When Knights were Bold 

little while Ingeborg shall be your own. Love her well 
and care for my child, who is to be king in my stead." 
So it was that Frithiof gained the beautiful Ingeborg for 
his wife. He guarded the kingdom until the child was of 
an age to govern it; then he went away with Ingeborg 
to a kingdom of his own which he had won in battle. 



p 


E 




1 








1 


If 


mm 


^ 





HOW ALEXANDER DID BATTLE 



The stories that have been briefly given here are only 
a few of the many that were the delight of the people 
of the days of chivalry. One other sort of writing 
pleased them greatly, namely, that which took for its 
subject the deeds of Alexander the Great, or some other 
worthy of classical times. It is true that any one of 
these heroes would have been amazed at the actions as- 
cribed to him by the writers; but that did not matter 
to the people who listened to the romances and appar- 

298 



Schools and Literature 

ently found it quite as satisfactory to make Alexander 
the hero of a good story as any other man. 

From the German comes the " beast epic," the story 
of wicked Reynard the fox who is always playing tricks 
on Bruin the bear, Tybert the cat, Isegrim the wolf, and 
the other animals. It is really a satire on the state of 
Germany in the Middle Ages ; but the best way to enjoy it 
is to forget that it is anything but a good story and read 
it purely for the fun of it. By the way, it is because of this 
story that even to this day we call the fox Reynard. 

Another fashion of writing about animals is shown in 
the " bestiaries," or beast books. A chapter in a bestiary 
described some remarkable act of a beast, such as was 
never seen in the Middle Ages or at any other time, and 
drew from it an elaborate moral. The following is taken 
from the Ancren Riwle^ and its natural history as well as 
its moral was probably believed most implicitly by the 
recluses for whom it was written : — 

The pelican is a lean bird, so peevish and so wrathful that 
often, in her anger, she killeth her own young ones when they 
molest her, and then, soon after, she is very sorry, and maketh 
great moan, and smiteth herself with her bill wherewith she slew 
her young, and draweth blood out of her breast, and with the 
blood she then quickeneth her slain birds. This pelican is the 

299 



When Knights were Bold 

peevish recluse. Her birds are her good works, which she often 
slayeth with the bill of sharp wrath ; and when she hath so done, 
she, as the pelican doth, quickly repents, and with her own bill 
pecks her breast ; that is, with confession of her mouth where- 
with she sinned and slew her good works, draweth the blood of 
sin out of her breast, that is, of the heart in which is the life of 
the soul, and thus shall then quicken her slain birds, which are 
her works. 

A delightful old book called The Voyages and Travels 
of Sir John Mandeville was a great favorite. It describes 
the way to Jerusalem and purports to have been written 
as a guidebook for those who wished to make the pil- 
grimage. When people read it, they felt, as in watching 
the mystery plays, that they were gaining something re- 
ligiously and also having an exceedingly good time. 
"Sir John" sees as many marvels as Sindbad the sailor. 
By the Dead Sea he finds apples that are fair to look 
upon, but within are nothing but ashes and cinders. He 
gazes at people with ears that hang down to their knees, 
upon hens that bear wool, upon pigmies, giants, and 
griffins. He closes his book with the request that all its 
readers will pray for him as he will pray for them; and 
surely a man who has written so entertainingly has a 
right to ask the favor of those who enjoy his book. 

300 



Schools and Literature 

The crusades gave rise of course to tales and roman- 
ces without number. In one some returning crusaders 
brought with them an image of the Virgin Mary. Sud- 




SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE 

denly it became so heavy that they could not carry it. 
Therefore they stopped and built a church for it on the 
spot. Another story, coming from Burgundy, said that a 
long-bearded crusader, sick and travel-worn, appeared at 

301 



When Knights were Bold 

his old home in the garb of a pilgrim. The house was 
full of rejoicing, for its mistress, who had waited many 
weary years in the hope that her husband would return, 
was now about to marry a second time. She had always 
kept half of a gold ring that she and her husband had 
divided; and now he produced the other half. There 
was no second marriage, and the wife and her long lost 
husband lived together again in great happiness. But it 
seemed that the crusader had been taken captive by the 
Saracens and had only been allowed to go home on con- 
dition of returning to captivity if he could not find money 
for his ransom. The money could not be raised. He 
said a sorrowful farewell to his wife and went back to 
Saladin. When the generous Saracen heard the story, he 
bade that the honest man be set free. " But name your 
oldest son for me," he said, "and let your coat of arms 
be bells and crescents." 

The writings of the Middle Ages may be divided into 
two classes; those written in Latin, which are generally 
dull and uninteresting, and those written in the languages 
of the different peoples, which are generally bright and 
entertaining. In most of the countries that had been 
ruled by the Romans, especially Italy, France, and Spain, 
the people spoke what are called the Romance Ian- 

302 



Schools and Literature 

guages. These were more or less like that of the Ro- 
mans, but far simpler; for instance, the Latin word for 
mother, tnater, became in French ?jiefe; and instead of 
saying matris for of the mother and ?natri for to the mother^ 
people used prepositions and said de la mere and a la mere. 
It was much easier to remember a few prepositions than 
to learn how to decline every noun. Verbs and other 
parts of speech were gradually simplified in somewhat 
the same fashion ; and by the eleventh century there 
were languages which were far more manageable for 
light poems and stories than the more dignified Latin. 
The use of rhyme and accent in poetry had come in. 
No one knows just how this came about; but it is cer- 
tain that the taste of people had gradually changed, and 
now, instead of liking the Latin fashion of " quantity," 
that is, of giving to each syllable a fixed length of time, 
either long or short, they preferred to accent certain 
syllables of a line and end it with the words or syllables 
that rhymed. Then it was that the troubadours of south- 
ern France and, a little later, the trouveurs, or trouveres, 
of northern France, began to compose their songs. The 
troubadours used the form of Old French that was 
called the langue d'oc, because in southern France 
"yes" was "oc." In northern France "yes" was "ceil," 



When Knights were Bold 

and therefore the northern tongue was called the langue 
d'ceil. 

The troubadours composed chiefly love songs and bat- 
tle songs. Everybody seemed to love poetry, and any 
vv^anderer was welcome at the most lordly castle if he 
could only compose verses and sing them to the music 
of the harp. A knight would have thought it far beneath 
him to joust with a common man; but to sing songs to- 
gether was quite a different matter, and the proudest 
nobl« would not have found it any disgrace to mingle 
his voice wdth that of a beggar. After a tournament was 
over and the prizes had been distributed, the lady of the 
castle often opened what was called a Court of Love. 
Here knights and even sovereigns vied with one another 
in singing extempore verses. Richard the Lionhearted 
was as proud of his skill as a troubadour as of his prowess 
in battle. At the close of the Court of Love, the ladies 
discussed at length the merits of the different singers, 
and gave to the most deserving prizes which were as 
much valued as those of the tournament. 

Some of our best accounts of tournaments, as, in- 
deed, of battles and many other things, came from the 
pen of Froissart, a French clergyman who wrote at the 
end of the fourteenth century. A nobleman employed 



Schools and Literature 



him to write a history of the wars of the time; and 
Froissart mounted his horse and ambled along from one 
place to another, wherever a battle had been fought or 
any other event of special interest had come to pass. He 




THE PALACE OF LOVE 



30s 



When Knights were Bold 

talked to people and gathered all the information that 
he could and then wrote it in his Chronicles. He does 
not care what caused the war or who wins, and he is 
just as jubilant over an English victory as a French ; 
the one thing that he wants to do is to get hold of a 
good story and tell it. It is he who paints such a pic- 
ture of the Black Prince humbly serving the French 
king, who has been taken prisoner at the battle of Poi- 
tiers; and it is he who describes so vividly the coming 
of the six wealthy citizens of conquered Calais to Ed- 
ward III, in their shirts, barefooted, and with ropes 
about their necks, that by their death the anger of the 
king might be appeased and their fellow citizens for- 
given. Just at the moment when the reader despairs of 
their being saved, Froissart brings in Queen Philippa 
with so earnest a plea for mercy that the king cannot 
refuse to pardon them. Indeed, whenever one discovers 
a particularly lively account of any event that came 
within the ken of Froissart, it is almost sure to have 
been written by his pen. It is no wonder that, as he 
roamed about from castle to castle, telling his tales 
wherever he went, he always found a welcome. 

About a century later than the time when the trou- 
badours began to flourish in southern France, the trou- 

306 



Schools and Literature 

veres in northern France were singing in the langue 
d'oeil, and were great favorites at the courts of the 
dukes of Normandy. The Normans were descendants 
of the fierce vikings of an earlier day who had settled 
in France. They had lost none of their boldness and 
daring, but they had adopted French customs and the 
French language. From these trouveres came gay little 
tales of love and adventure called fabliaux^ many of the 
mystery plays that have already been mentioned, and 
brilliant romances of chivalry. The craze for these ro- 
mances and for even the feebler imitations of them that 
were composed somewhat later was so intense and lasted 
so long that at the beginning of the seventeenth cen- 
tury Cervantes of Spain wrote his famous Don ^ixote 
as a parody on them. The good old Don is described as 
having read so many of these productions that his brain 
is touched, and with a helmet of pasteboard, an ancient 
suit of rusty armor, a farm horse for a steed of war, and 
a country laborer for a squire, he set out in search of 
adventures. He found them in plenty. To his disor- 
dered mind some windmills on a plain seemed to be 
evil giants. One can guess the result of his valiant at- 
tack upon them. A flock of sheep moving toward him 
he is convinced is an immense army of knights, and he 



When Knights were Bold 

charges on them most valiantly. It is no wonder that 
this book put an end to the composing of romances and 
the fashion of reading them. 

In Germany, too, between the twelfth century and 
the fourteenth, there were many poets. Some sang of 
Arthur and the Holy Grail and Charlemagne and the 
Nibelungs; but far more tenderly and elegantly and 

with much better taste 



than the poets of the 
langue d'oc or those of 
the langue d'oeil. Some 
of the German poets 
were called minnesingers, 
or love-singers, and their 
poems are really dainty 
and graceful and far 
more refined in feeling and expression than the rather 
coarse songs of the Courts of Love. Knights, priests, 
wandering students, kings, and simple country folk met 
together in the joy of poetry and music, and sang of love 
and sorrow and the beauties of spring with a pureness 
and freshness that hold their charm even to this day. 

The names of two great authors shine out from the 
Middle Ages, the Italian Dante and the English Chau- 

308 





MINNESINGERS 



Schools and Literature 

cer. Dante wrote about i 300 his famous Divine Comedy. 
In this poem he passes through the gates of hell under 
the guidance of Virgil. He visits one ** circle " after 
another, each occupied by some one class of criminals, 
and sees the terrible punishments inflicted upon them. 
He then enters purgatory ; and here sinners are expiat- 
ing the wrongs that they have committed. Those who 
have been greedy suffer constantly from hunger and 
thirst. Those who held their heads too high in their 
pride are dragged down by heavy weights. Those who 
were lazy are now forced to run about continually. 
Each penance is adapted to the fault. On top of the 
mountain of purgatory is the maiden Beatrice whom 
Dante had loved even as a child and had lost by her 
early death. She now becomes his guide and leads him 
through the nine heavens, where he meets the great and 
good of all ages and finally is permitted a vision of God 
and his angels. The poem is great because its language 
is so rich and beautiful, because its characters are alive 
and its pictures so vivid that an artist could work from 
them, and, most of all, because it is so complete in its 
plan and in every detail as to show a marvelous imag- 
ination. 

It is said that the good folk of Florence used to point 



When Knights were Bold 

at Dante as he went along the street and whisper half 
fearfully, "That 's the man who has been in hell " ; but 
I fancy that people said of Chaucer, '* That 's the man 
who sees everything and enjoys whatever he sees," for 
he seems to take such genuine pleasure in every com- 
mon sight and in studying every person. In his Canter- 
bury Tales, wherein a large company of all sorts of peo- 
ple go on pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas a Becket 
at Canterbury, he is apparently as much interested in 
one a§ in another, but he treats each one in different 
fashion. He looks with respect upon the " verray parfit 
gen til knyght," and he has a kindly word for the gay 
young squire who is singing or whistling from morning 
to night. He makes us see the coy and dainty ways of 
the nun, and he really cannot help making a sly jest at 
her French, which was not that of Paris, but 

After the scole of Stratford-atte-Bowe, — 

a town in England. He is a bit indignant at the friar, who 
" knew the tavernes well in every town," and is better ac- 
quainted with innkeepers and barmaids than with lepers 
and beggars ; but he has a warm sympathy with the poor 
clerk who would rather have books than gorgeous robes ; 
and he speaks most reverently of the good parish priest 
who loved to give to the poor and who never scorned 

310 



Schools and Literature 

even a sinful man. In the poem these good folk tell sto- 
ries, stories of chivalry, of the crafty fox who stole Chan- 
ticleer, of magic swords, of fairies and giants and en- 
chanted steeds; and in each the author is at home and 
enjoying himself. He drops in so many little confiden- 
tial speeches to the reader that one feels as if the poet 
were right at his elbow instead of being five centuries 
away. 

These are snatches of the writings that come to mind 
first when one thinks of the days of knighthood. Leav- 
ing out the two great names of Dante and Chaucer, 
there is little that has any great excellence ; but it is en- 
tertaining and rich in promise, and the promise has 
been nobly fulfilled. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Science and Medicine 

The good folk of the Middle Ages were as much inter- 
ested in the world of nature around them as are the 
people of to-day. They wondered what made lightning 
and thunder, why men died in the water and fish in the 
air, what would cure their various illnesses, why the 
moon rises, where the sun goes when it sets, and hun- 
dreds of other questions. Most of the studying of the day 
was carried on in monasteries, as has been said before, 
and the Venerable Bede and others wrote long treatises 
en nature, together with some remarkable explanations 
of its mysteries. In the twelfth century numerous univer- 
sities were founded; and by the time that they were well 
established and had become strong and powerful, a fresh 
supply of knowledge came to them through the Saracens. 
Long before this, the Saracens had translated into their 
own language, the Arabic, the works of the learned 
Greeks of centuries earlier, including especially what 
they knew of stars and planets and comets and eclipses. 
Many Saracens were now living about the Mediterranean 

312 



Science and Medicine 



Sea, and through them manuscripts were brought into 
Europe and translated from the Arabic into the Euro- 
pean tongues. 

Astronomy was looked upon as an exceedingly prac- 
tical study, because it was by this science that the festi- 
vals of the Church 
wxre dated. The as- 
tronomers of the time 
knew something of 
eclipses and they had 
tables of stars and 
planets. They studied 
the observations made 
by the wise men of 
the East for many 
centuries, and really 
learned a great deal. 
Unfortunately, they 
made one great mis- 
take. For four hundred years it has been known that the 
earth and the other planets revolve around the sun. In the 
Middle Ages, however, people believed that the sun re- 
volved about the earth. The sky, they thought, was a vast 
hollow sphere which revolved once a day. It was because 

3^3 




AN ASTRONOMER 



When Knights were Bold 

of this mistake that when they tried to reason about 
what they had seen, their conclusions were all wrong, no 
matter how correct their observations might have been. 
Now when people believed that the whole starry uni- 
verse was made for their especial benefit, it was not very 
unreasonable to take it for granted that the stars, their 
arrangement in the sky, and their movements had some- 
thing to do with human affairs. Anything unusual was 
always alarming. Comets were a source of terror. No 
one k:new whence they came or whither they were 
going. They were uncanny, and even the educated feared 
some awful disaster when one of these fiery wanderers 
appeared in the sky. In the middle of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, a large comet was seen which terrified all Europe. 
Even before its appearance people were in dread, for the 
Turks had crossed the Hellespont, and there was reason 
to believe that they would overrun the Continent. Then 
came the added horror of the comet, and no one could 
tell what awful calamity this might portend It is no 
wonder that the Pope ordered the church bells to be 
rung at noon, and the Ave Maria to be said three times 
a day instead of twice. To this prayer was added the 
petition, ** Lord, save us from the Devil, the Turk, and 
the Comet." 



Science and Medicine 

Comets, fortunately, did not appear very often, but it 
was believed that the other heavenly bodies, also, had an 
effect upon people and could make them successful or 
unsuccessful. A man who could interpret the signifi- 
cance of the heavens was called an astrologer, and the 
science, or make-believe science, was called astrology. 
When a child was born, the father hurried away to an 
astrologer, if he could afford to consult one, to have 
what was called a horoscope calculated, that is, to have 
its future life predicted according to the aspect of the 
heavens at its birth. The most important constellations 
are situated in a wide belt around the heavens called the 
zodiac, and are therefore called the signs of the zodiac. 
There are twelve of these constellations : Aries, or the 
ram ; Gemini, or the twins ; Leo, the lion ; Capricornus, 
or the goat; and others. The one which was in the 
ascendant, or just risen above the eastern horizon, at the 
time of the child's birth, was supposed to have great in- 
fluence upon his life. But this was only the beginning 
of the astrologer's calculations. He fixed a point in the 
sky according to the position of the sun and moon at 
the time, and, beginning at that, he divided the heavens 
into twelve ** houses." These houses were divided and 
subdivided. To each house some planet was assigned. 



When Knights were Bold 

and every planet had its special influence. Jupiter, for 
instance, had power to give one riches and honors, Venus 
would bestow love and warm friendship. If, then, Ju- 
piter chanced to be in the house assigned to him and in 
a favorable sign, his influence upon the child would be 
so strong that he could hardly help winning wealth and 
distinction. People consulted astrologers about the proper 
time to begin a journey or a business undertaking, about 
a favorable day for a marriage or the coronation of a 
king', and, indeed, so far as they could afibrd it, about 
an endless number of even the smallest aff'airs of life. 

Even in medicine the position of the planets was of 
the utmost importance. When a doctor was sent for, 
he came on horseback with the bells on his bridle rein 
jingling so merrily that he could be heard a long way 
off. An assistant followed him and as many servants as 
his purse would permit, bearing five or six instruments 
and numerous sorts of ointment. When he reached the 
home of the sick man, his first business was not to 
count his pulse or note his temperature, but to inquire 
under what constellation he was born. With this know- 
ledge he would set to work to ascertain what remedy 
would be of service. But, however valuable the medi- 
cine might be and however much it might be needed, 

316 



Science and Medicine 

it must not be taken when the moon was in an unfa- 
vorable sign; for then it would do harm rather than 
good. When an epidemic appeared, it was of course laid 
to the stars, or the power of evil spirits. Two unfavor- 
able planets meeting in the same degree of the zodiac 
would account for any pestilence, or so people thought. 
There was, however, one other way of explaining the ap- 
pearance of any general illness, and that was to lay it to the 
Jews. In France, Germany, and Italy, Jews were many 
times accused of poisoning the wells or even the air, 
and were either imprisoned or put to death on this 
charge. 

Some of the medicines of the time were most absurd, 
and many v^^ere revolting. Gold filings were thought 
good for leprosy, and so was an adder boiled with leeks. 
A more agreeable remedy for the illness of a child was 
to weigh the child and then offer up at some shrine its 
weight in bread or grain or cheese or wax. Many herbs 
were used, such as sage, wormwood, and pennyroyal. 
Medicines were hardly expected to do much good of 
themselves. To make a dose powerful, the sick man 
must repeat a certain Psalm twelve times together with 
several Paternosters while the medicine was being pre- 
pared. It was far more likely to effect a cure if he could 



When Knights were Bold 

take it at the shrine of some saint. With some remedies 
one should always repeat a charm. 

Physicians are described as wearing expensive robes 
of silk with trimmings of fur. " Physic" in Piers Plow- 
man wears a hood richly trimmed with fur, and gold 
buttons on his cloak. They demanded large fees and re- 
ceived them. In other cases a man might choose whether 
to purchase or to do without; but in illness there was 
left him only the highwayman's choice, "Your money 
or your life." Chaucer makes a fling at these exorbitant 
charges and says of the learned doctor among his Can- 
terbury pilgrims, 

For gold in phisik is a cordial, 
Therfor he loved gold in special. 

Poor folk had not the money necessary to buy their 
lives of these great doctors, and therefore they went 
with their ailments to the barber. He was permitted by 
law to apply plasters and ointments to wounds that did 
not threaten to become dangerous, and often to give 
simple remedies. In most diseases, the first treatment 
was to bleed the patient, and the barber's pole of to-day 
is a reminder of the custom. In France, before any se- 
rious operation could be performed, the bishop or the 
feudal lord of the patient had to be consulted. Talis- 

318 



Science and Medicine 



mans were made use of for remedies or to keep away 
illness. These consisted of a stone or a piece of metal 
upon which was cut a figure or an inscription. In the 
earlier part of the Middle Ages, runes were often used 
for the inscriptions. 
These were only the 
letters of the earliest 
northern alphabet ; but 
so few people could 
read that they were 
looked upon as some- 
thing having magical 
powers. In later times, 
most talismans were 
brought from the East, 
and were engraved with 
inscriptions in Persian 
or Arabic. Even in 
health these tokens were highly valued. A species of 
charm known as a philter was supposed to have the power 
to arouse love. Sometimes a magic drink for the same 
purpose was prepared and given to the person in question ; 
but oftener the one who wished to become beloved wore 
a philter consisting of powdered loadstone, nail-parings, 




A DENTAL OPERATION 



When Knights were Bold 

and human blood, or other absurd combinations. If a 
man wished to win honor, he might cut the image of 
Jupiter on a white stone or a piece of tin; and if this 
was done when the planets were favorable, he would be 
sure to gain his wish. Of course there were stories upon 
stories of cures wrought in illness by such means. 
Roger Bacon, who was perhaps the most sensible scien- 
tific man of his age, declared that charms and talismans 
were of much value; but he explained that this was not 
because they acted as remedies, but because they made 
the patient calm and hopeful and thus aided in his 
recovery. 

It is a wonder, however, that when people were sick, 
they should ever have expected charms or anything else 
to be of service, for so many illnesses were thought to 
be caused by witchcraft. Some persons were believed to 
possess what was known as the " evil eye." Whoever 
first met their gaze in the morning was sure to pine 
away and die; and, indeed, some evil was likely to be- 
fall one upon whom they looked at any hour of the day. 
If a man wished to take the life of an enemy, he could 
do so conveniently by driving a nail or a wooden peg 
into a wall, pronouncing the name of the victim at each 
blow. Another way was to shoot an arrow into the air, 

320 



Science and Medicine 

praying to some demon to direct its flight to the person 
named. This arrow would leave a wound which was in- 
visible, to be sure, but which would certainly cause 
death within three days. Another method of ridding 
one's self of a foe was to make an image of him in wax. 
Under the right arm of the image one must place the 
heart of a swallow, and under the left arm its liver. 
Whatever injury was done to the figure was supposed to 
be felt by the person whom it represented. If a needle 
was pushed into its side, the person was expected to feel 
a sharp pain in the side. In case of sudden death, peo- 
ple thought first of witchcraft, and it was sometimes 
dangerous to the safety of even an innocent man if his 
enemy died too unexpectedly. It was far safer to build 
a fire of wood and vervain, set the waxen image before 
it, and let it melt. Then the person would slowly but 
surely waste away. This belief in the waxen image was 
so firmly fixed that if a man had a hawk which he 
could not succeed in managing, he would sometimes 
send a waxen image of it to the shrine of some saint 
that he might have better success. 

Besides the danger of being bewitched, there were 
the four " humors," or qualities, to be reckoned with. 
All things are made of earth, air, fire, and water, but in 

321 



When Knights were Bold 

varying proportions, declared the wisdom of the Mid- 
dle Ages. Earth has the humor of being cold and dry ; 
water of being cold and moist ; air of being hot and 
moist; and fire of being hot and dry. It went on fur- 
ther to say that earth corresponded to autumn and the 
melancholic temperament; water to winter and the 
phlegmatic ; air to spring and the sanguine ; and fire to 
summer and the choleric. If these humors were per- 
fectly balanced, the person was well — and to this day 
we keep the phrase "good-humored" — but if there 
chanced to be too much of any one of them, illness 
was the result ; and it was the business of the doctor to 
decide which humor was in excess. 

Mixtures to cure diseases were often prepared by the 
alchemists, or chemists of the time. With the chanting 
of charms and the drawing of magic circles an alche- 
mist would prepare a draught warranted to heal a sick 
man, give pleasant dreams, or make one invulnerable. 
To the common folk, their work was so mysterious and 
the sights and sounds from their laboratories so strange 
and awe-inspiring that whenever they passed the house 
of an alchemist, they crossed themselves and prayed to 
be delivered from the power of the Devil. They were 
ready to believe the most absurd stories of the abilities 

322 



Science and Medicine 

of these men. One was said to be able to call back to 
his purse whatever coins he might have paid out of it. 
Another was believed to have made a wooden image 
that would rise from its seat and open the door when- 
ever a knock was heard. Most mysterious and most 




A GERMAN ALCHEMIST 



popular of all such wonders was the brazen head which 
Ros:er Bacon was said to have made. Success in his un- 
dertakings and a vast amount of knowledge were to come 
to him if he only heard it speak. When he had become 
too weary to listen any longer, he set an assistant to 
watch it. While the master slept, the head suddenly 



When Knights were Bold 

spoke. "Time is," it said. "There is no use in arous- 
ing my master to hear what every one knows," thought 
the assistant; and he let Bacon sleep on. The head 
spoke again, and said, " Time was." This, too, the as- 
sistant thought was of no importance. Half an hour 
later it spoke for the third time. It said, "Time is past," 
fell from its place, and was broken to fragments; and so 
it was that Bacon himself, its maker, never heard it speak. 
The alchemists experimented on various substances, 
treated them by fire, then by water, then united them, 
and carefully noted the results. Thus far they were in 
the true path of science ; but they could make little ad- 
vance beyond this, because they began their work with 
some false notions which they could never lay aside. 
They believed, for instance, that earth, air, fire, and 
water were peopled by demons; and when the facts did 
not agree with their theories, they explained matters 
by saying that the demons w^ere interfering. Of course 
they believed in the influence of the stars, and often 
they tried to connect the stars and the earth by 
odors. If a man wished to secure the influence of the 
sun, for instance, he mixed saffron, amber, musk, clove, 
incense, the brain of an eagle, and the blood of a cock, 
and burned them. 



Science and Medicine 

The alchemists had three aims in particular. One was 
to discover a "universal solvent," that is, some substance 
that would dissolve everything into its elements. The 
second was to make an elixir that would enable a per- 
son to keep youth and life as long as he chose. Even the 
reasonable Roger Bacon thought this was quite possible ; 
and after the discovery of America, people felt sure that 
somewhere in the wonderful new land the elixir would 
be found. Many believed that the marvelous draught 
would not be compounded by an alchemist, but was only 
the water of some magic fountain. When Ponce de 
Leon made his voyage to America in 1 5 1 2, he set out 
in eager hope of finding this fountain of youth, for he 
was fast becoming an old man, and he longed to be 
young again. 

The third quest of the alchemists was to discover 
what was known as the "philosopher's stone." They 
thought that all metals were made of sulphur and mer- 
cury, that in gold the sulphur and mercury were pure, 
while in the baser metals they were more or less corrupt. 
If the "stone" could be discovered, this corruption 
could be cured or driven away from any metal, and pure 
gold would remain. Generation after generation of al- 
chemists labored in this quest. Many of them were 



When Knights were Bold 

honest and were trying their best to make discoveries 
that would be of value to mankind. Others sought only 
a method of making gold and so winning riches for 
themselves. Then, too, there were numerous rascals who 
had a smattering of the learning of the alchemists and 
went about persuading people that they could turn the 
baser metals into gold or silver, and getting money from 
them for sharing the secret of the method. Chaucer 
tells the story of one of these quacks who turned mer- 
cury into the purest of silver before the face and eyes of 
a trustful priest and obtained forty pounds from him for 
the recipe. The secret was that he brought with him a 
beechen coal in which a hole had been bored and filled 
with silver filings. It was easy to slip this coal in with 
the others in such a way that the wax which stopped up 
the hole would melt and let the silver fall into the cru- 
cible. The second trick of the deceiver was to stir the 
mercury in the crucible with a hollow rod in which was 
an ounce of silver filings kept in with wax in the same 
manner. After the priest had paid his forty pounds and 
the quack had disappeared, he tried his magical recipe; 
but in spite of all his efforts not a bit of silver could be 
found in the crucible. 

The alchemists did not discover the philosopher's 

326 



Science and Medicine 

stone, but in their experiments they did gain some use- 
ful knowledge. Among other things they discovered 
soap, they learned how to separate silver from lead, and 




AN ALCHEMIST S APPARATUS 



how to make porcelain. The Chinese knew of gunpow- 
der many centuries earlier; but Roger Bacon is thought 
to have learned that with sulphur, saltpetre, and char- 
coal an explosion might be produced, and so to have 
discovered it anew. The ideas of some of the alchemists 
ran far out into the future. Bacon predicted that the 



When Knights were Bold 

time would come when boats would move without oars, 
and wagons without animals to draw them, when men 
would be able to fly through the air, and bridges with- 
out any supporting piers would span the widest rivers. 
He believed, too, that an elixir would be discovered 
that would enable people to live as long as they 
chose. 

Several of Bacon's predictions have long ago come to 
pass ; but they probably seemed to the good folk of his 
time far more absurd than many strange things that ap- 
peared to them a matter of course. All through the period 
people of education believed that the earth was a sphere ; 
but they were ready to accept without question the wild- 
est stories of what might be seen in the parts that were 
unknown to them. In Africa, it was said, great dragons 
were found from whose brains precious stones might be 
taken, and also beasts so venomous that whoever looked 
them in the face fell dead. It was believed that tribes 
lived in that country who had three or four eyes in their 
foreheads. Other tribes fed upon nothing but honey- 
suckles dried in smoke by the sun. Ireland was the spe- 
cial country of wonders. In one lake, so the story went, 
a rod of hazel would turn to ash and one of ash to hazel. 
Another lake had quite as amazing properties, for if a 

328 



Science and Medicine 

rod was made to stand upright in the water, the part in 
the earth became iron, that in the water was turned to 
stone, while that above the water was not changed. In 
Ireland, too, there was said to be a little island whose 
inhabitants could never die. When they were overcome 
with the weaknesses of age, they had to be carried else- 
where that they might find relief in death. In Finland, 
so people thought, certain men had the power to raise 
the wind. They tied knots in a cord, and if they desired 
a gentle breeze, they let out the cord to one knot. For 
a storm, they let out to four or five knots. Concerning 
India, people would believe the most fantastic imagin- 
ings. Its ruler was thought to be one Prester John, or 
priest John, who had governed the land for many cen- 
turies. Some of his subjects were said to be more than 
five cubits in height. Others had dogs' heads and barked 
like dogs. Near the source of the Ganges were men who 
had no mouths. Naturally, they neither ate nor drank ; 
but they lived on the perfume of flowers. 

Concerning animals and plants there was a sort of 
imaginative natural history which was stated in so au- 
thoritative a manner and with so many details that it 
must have needed a brave man to doubt its truth. " A 
grifiin," says an old book, *' is a flying thing. Its head 



When Knights were Bold 

and wings are like the eagle's ; the rest of the body is 
like that of a lion." The " enchirius," whatever that 
may be, is described as a little fish half a foot long which 
clings to a stone when a storm is coming, that it may 
not be blown about. Its ability to cling must have been 
considerable, for it was said that if it caught a good hold 
of a ship, it could hold it perfectly quiet. Still more 
startling is the statement that when a whale becomes 
old, earth collects upon his body to such an extent that 
herbs and small bushes take root and grow. Cranes, it 
was said, seat themselves comfortably on the ground 
when they are weary ; but they always leave watchers on 
guard. The watchers stand on one foot. In the other 
foot they hold a little stone, so that if they chance to go 
to sleep the stone will fall and arouse them. No serpent 
will come into the shade of an ash tree; and if the crea- 
ture be encircled partly with ash leaves and partly with 
fire, he will flee through the fire rather than touch the 
leaves. The young ravens live on dew until they begin 
to show black feathers. Then the mother bird feeds 
them. Toads and serpents cannot bear the fragrance of 
the grapevine blossom, and when the vine is in bloom, 
they escape from the vineyard. These are some of the 
" facts " of natural history as believed in the Middle 



Science and Medicine 

Ages. Folk were taught that there were satyrs with 
horns and the feet of goats, cyclops with one eye in the 
middle of their foreheads, and people with eyes in their 
shoulders and neither nose nor head. They believed that 
certain men had made pacts with Satan, and in conse- 




THE MAN-WOLF AND OTHERS 



quence were obliged once a year to take the face of a 
dog, a wolf, a bull, or a pig, and that these monsters 
searched the woods to find children to devour. But of 
all the fancies that were once regarded as facts of natural 
history, that of the phoenix was dearest to the good peo- 
ple of the age. There was only one phoenix in the world 
at a time. It lived from three to five hundred years, then, 



When Knights were Bold 

when it began to be weary and feeble, it made a nest of 
sweet smelling woods. This was set afire by the rays of 
the sun; and when it was well ablaze the bird entered 
the flames and was burned to ashes. Three days later, a 
little worm was found in the ashes, which grew and put 
on feathers and became another phoenix to take the 
place of the first. Cassia, it was said, was found in the 
nest of the phoenix, and either fell to the ground of its 
own accord or was struck down by leaden arrows. For 
some feason, people were not so willing to accept this 
story of the cassia as other marvels, and some ventured 
to say boldly that the tale was invented to raise the price 
of the article. About the mandrake, however, they were 
ready to believe anything, no matter how impossible. 
The root of the mandrake is often forked, and has a rough 
resemblance to a human body. That was enough to 
serve as a foundation for a story that it was the ofi*- 
spring of some person who had been put to death for 
murder. It shrieked when it was pulled, said the 
story; and to pull it was at best a dangerous business. 
He who set about it must wait until the wind blew 
from a favorable quarter. He must make three circles 
about the plant with a sword; but he must not ven- 
ture to dig until after the sun had gone down. If one 



Science and Medicine 

obeyed these directions carefully, he might hope to 
escape harm. 

Various methods of divination were resorted to in 
order to read the future or to learn whether an enter- 
prise would be likely to succeed. One way was to hang 
a ring inside a pitcher by a thread and read the fates by 
the number of times that it struck the sides of the pitcher. 
Sometimes a fire was built of certain kinds of wood, and 
it was believed that the shape and movement of the 
flames and the smoke would reveal things that were 
about to be. One might fast and pray and then open a 
Bible. The verse upon which his eye first lighted would 
be significant. Sometimes instead of the Bible a copy of 
Virgil was taken. To discover hidden treasure, one must 
use the hand of a man who had been hanged. Whether 
the predictions of a sorcerer were eventually shown to 
be true or false, the people believed in sorcery just the 
same ; for if his words proved false, they simply declared 
that he was not a true sorcerer, and that some man of 
greater powers would have succeeded. Indeed, so far as 
the sorcerer himself was concerned, it was not well to 
succeed too often ; for all magic was supposed to be 
more or less connected with the Devil, and if the magi- 
cian was too successful, whispers would go abroad among 

333 



When Knights were Bold 

his enemies that so intimate a friend of Satan ought to 
be burned to death or at least to be imprisoned. It was 
beheved that at stated times sorcerers and witches met 
together in some gloomy and unlawful place to boast of 
the tricks they had played and learn of one another and 
of Satan how they might still further deceive those 
who consulted them. This meeting was known as the 
"Witches' Sabbath." 

One great obstacle in the way of real progress in sci- 
ence was the general belief in analogy. A magnet will 
draw steel ; therefore it was concluded that it would 
draw pain from the body. The "universal solvent" 
which the philosophers w^ere ever hoping to discover 
would separate every substance into its elements ; there- 
fore it was supposed that it would also dissolve disease 
and do away with it. Another difficulty was that the 
causes of the phenomena of nature and the relation of 
cause to effect were so little understood that with most 
people if one event happened after another, this was re- 
garded as sufficient proof that it was caused by that 
other. No matter how absurd and useless a medicine 
might be, if a sick man recovered after taking a dose 
of it, no one questioned that the medicine had wrought 
the cure. 

334 



Science and Medicine 

A third great weakness in the science of the times 
was that instead of studying nature and trying to explain 
what they saw, the philosophers set out with definite 
opinions on numerous points and tried to make nature 
and their own observations fit the theories. The alche- 
mists, as has been said, set out with the belief that all 
metals were made of sulphur and mercury, and they 
could never understand why the metals would not act 
like sulphur and mercury. Another difficulty was that 
if any two things looked alike, the philosophers were 
certain that there was some relation between them; but 
to discover what it was they used their imagination 
rather than their observation. For instance, crystal looks 
like ice; therefore they decided that if ice could be kept 
for many years, it would turn into crystal. Pearls have 
a dewy appearance and are found in the shells of oysters. 
That was proof enough that pearls came from dew; and 
the philosophers decided that in the nights of early spring 
the oyster opened its shell to receive the drop of dew 
and changed it into a pearl. In a thunderstorm, the sky 
is often covered with heavy, swiftly changing clouds; 
therefore it was regarded as evident that thunder is the 
noise produced by breaking up the clouds. This same 
fashion of fancying a connection between any two things 

335 



When Knights were Bold 

that resembled each other was also carried into medicine. 
The wood sorrel has a heart-shaped leaf; therefore it 
would cure any disease of the heart. Liverwort, or he- 
patica, has a three-lobed leaf, and the liver has three 
lobes ; therefore hepatica was of course beneficial to the 
liver. Certain ferns have seeds so tiny that they can 
hardly be seen by the naked eye; therefore fern seed 
had the power of making one invisible. 

Such were some of the beliefs and superstitions of the 
people of the Middle Ages ; but the folly of these vain 
imaginings was realized by some. One man who wrote 
an encyclopaedia of general knowledge exclaimed against 
trying to read the future by noting the flight of a flock 
of crows, and said that he did not think it lawful to be- 
lieve that God had revealed his counsel to crows. It is 
no longer necessary, as was the case in the seventh cen- 
tury, for a worthy bishop to beg his clergy not to ob- 
serve Thursday, the day of Thor or Jupiter, as a day of 
rest, not to fear that a sneeze proved the presence of evil 
spirits, and not to visit sorcerers or makers of talismans. 
Nevertheless, there are many good folk even now who 
trust to absurd treatments of disease, who believe in signs 
and omens, in lucky and unlucky days and numbers, in 
the misfortune portended by the breaking of a looking- 



Science and Medicine 

glass or by the howling of a dog under the window, and 
in a thousand other superstitions; and even to-day the 
plain common sense of the man who did not believe 
that God revealed his counsel to crows would often be 
most welcome. 



CHAPTER XV 

Architecture and the Arts 

During the Middle Ages a vast amount of building was 
done. There were not only the castles and manor houses 
and town halls and monasteries which have already 
been spoken of, but there were also many magnificent 
churches and cathedrals. Three of the most famous of 
these are Saint Sophia in Constantinople, Saint Mark in 
Venice, and the cathedral at Cologne. Saint Sophia is 
an immense building with slender towers and a great 
flat dome. Within, one notices first of all rows of pillars 
separated by round arches, and above these other and 
still other rows, making long galleries. These columns 
are of many hues, and the walls are faced with slabs of 
marble of all tints. There is gilding and there is a glow 
of color wherever one looks. Above it all is the bold 
sweep of the great dome, encircled by fifty windows. 
This interior may not be dignified or harmonious, but it 
is dazzling in its luxuriance and sparkle and gorgeous- 
ness. Saint Sophia was built in the sixth century by the 
emperor Justinian, and the walls were then decorated 

338 




SAN SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE 

339 



When Knights were Bold 

with brilliant mosaics representing scenes in his life. It 
was a Christian church until 1453, when the Turks 
captured the city. Since then it has been used as a Mo- 
hammedan mosque. The Koran, the sacred book of the 
Mohammedans, forbids making a representation of any- 
thing having life ; and therefore the Turks covered the 
mosaics with whitewash. 

The style of architecture in which Saint Sophia was 
built takes its name from the ancient name of the city 
and is- called Byzantine. It is marked by domes and 
cupolas, and especially by long rows of round arches 
resting upon columns, and other arches resting upon 
them, making arcades, or corridors, one above another. 
It is always richly ornamented with gold and glowing 
colors. 

One glance at the church of Saint Mark in Venice 
would show that this, too, is of Byzantine architecture, 
for it has so many domes and cupolas and arcades. 
During the century and a half that the Venetians were 
building it, every vessel that came to Venice from the 
East was required to bring pillars and marbles for the 
church. It is no wonder that the principal front has five 
hundred columns. Over the centre of the vestibule are 
the famous "horses of Saint Mark." When Constanti- 



Architecture and the Arts 

nople was for a time in the hands of the crusaders, they 
took these horses from the hippodrome and brought 
them to Venice. Napoleon carried them to Paris, but 
in 1 815 they were taken back. The interior of Saint 
Mark, like that of all Byzantine buildings, is rich and 
brilliant. The walls are lined with rare marbles, and the 
floor is made of tessellated, or checkered, mosaic work. 

The Moors and Saracens built many mosques and 
palaces. The most renowned ot these is the wonderful 
Alhambra in Spain, which was erected in the fourteenth 
and fifteenth centuries. Longfellow calls it an enchanted 
palace. Its courts and pavilions are marvelously beauti- 
ful. Some of its ceilings are inlaid with silver and ivory 
and mother of pearl and tortoise shell. Others, as well 
as its walls, are ornamented with most graceful stucco 
arabesques, or delicate tracings of plants and vines, half 
from nature and half conventional, but always exquisite. 
Here and there are quotations from the Koran; but the 
Arabic letters seem only a part of the ornamentation. 
The stucco was formerly brilliant with gold and color, 
and some portion of this still remains. Everywhere are 
columns and arches. One court is especially famous for 
its beauty; and it has been painted and described so many 
times that to thousands who have never been in Spain 



When Knights were Bold 

it is almost as familiar as their own houses. This is called 
the Court of the Lions, because within it is a fountain 
of marble and alabaster in the shape of twelve lions sur- 
rounding a basin. The Koran, as has been said, forbade 
Mohammedans to copy animal life. Nevertheless, here 
are the lions. 

After the ninth century, a style of building became 
common which has received the name of Romanesque 
because it is somewhat like the old Roman fashion. The 
roof of the Romanesque church was vaulted, and there- 
fore the walls had to be made thick and solid to support 
it. The number of windows was not large, and what 
there were gave little light because of the thickness of 
the wall. There were towers, but the building as a whole 
was rather low and wide, and even the towers could 
not give it grace. The church at Angouleme is Roman- 
esque. It looks strong and sturdy, as if it belonged 
where it stands and meant to stay there, but it is not 
beautiful. 

After the Romanesque style came the Gothic archi- 
tecture; and this is generally the style meant when peo- 
ple speak of the architecture of the Middle Ages. Its 
special characteristic is a pointed rather than a rounded 
arch. Guesses without number have been made as to 




34-3 



When Knights were Bold 

what suggested the pointed arch. They have ranged all 
the way from Noah's ark to the lines made by the cross- 
ing of the branches of trees planted in rows. Gothic 
churches, such as the cathedral at Cologne, have pointed 
arches at doors and windows, and the pillars are in clusters 
instead of standing separately, as in the Roman and Greek 
architecture. The roofs are vaulted. Their weight tends 
to push the walls outward, especially as these are high and 
full of windows. Instead, however, 
of thickening the walls, as in the Ro- 
manesque style, the architects made 
outside supports called flying but- 
tresses. In the Gothic churches there 
are many slender pinnacles, and there 
is a vast amount of carving. The gen- 
eral eff^ect is of richness and splendor, while the many 
perpendicular lines give a certain lightness and grace 
which no other style of architecture can produce. The 
Gothic church is usually built in the shape of a cross, 
with a spire or tower at the place where the long and 
the short arms of the cross intersect. In the plan, a is 
the nave, b the transept, and c the choir. Within the 
choir was the chancel. The tower or towers rose at a. 
Here was hung the large bell, after being marked with 

344 



c 

■ \ 

- . 

A. 



Architecture and the Arts 

its name and the date, and after being christened with 
water and anointed with oil. Sometimes in places near 
the coast a church tower was provided with a cresset, or 
iron basket in which a signal fire might be kindled. At 
first, the Gothic architecture was used for churches only; 
but later castles, bridges, palaces, and gates of cities 
were built in this style. 

In the centuries of the Middle Ages, the Church was 
the great power, not only in religious matters, but even 
in the decorative arts. Mosaics, painting, carving, em- 
broidery, colored glass were all of use in beautifying the 
churches; and this fact was a great encouragement to 
their production. Mosaics were made by the Greeks in 
very early times, and from them the Italians learned the 
art. The "tessellated floors" of which we read in de- 
scriptions of churches and palaces were one variety of 
mosaic. The kind most used in Italy was made by tak- 
ing slabs of white marble as a foundation. Grooves were 
cut into it, which were then filled with little cubes, or 
"tessells," of colored stone to form patterns. Of course 
in the Byzantine mosaic work one would expect much 
brilliancy and color. This was obtained by using bits of 
glass instead of stone. A sheet of gold leaf was laid be- 
tween two sheets of glass and burned in a kiln. It was 

345 



When Knights were Bold 

then broken into bits, which served as a background for 
the figures or designs. These designs were made of dif- 
ferently colored glass or marble. The tiny pieces were 
firmly fixed in cement, and most elaborate pictures were 
the result. One of the most famous is called ** Pliny's 
Doves." It represents four doves sitting on a metal basin, 
one of them stooping to drink. When altars and walls 
and pulpits gleamed and glittered with mosaic work in 
the dim light of some vast cathedral, the effect was far 
more rich than that produced by any other species of 
ornament. 

Instead of covering church walls with mosaic, fresco 
was sometimes used, that is, painting in water color on 
damp plaster. This lasted well, because the colors sank 
into the plaster; but the drawing was stiff and the faces 
had little expression, until the coming of an artist named 
Cimabue, in the thirteenth century. The faces that he 
drew looked like those of real people with real thoughts and 
feelings. His draperies, too, were not prim and wooden, 
but hung as if they had been painted from real folds of 
cloth. It is said that when his famous "Madonna" was 
to be carried to the Church of Santa Maria Novella, the 
people formed in procession to do it honor, and shouted 
joyfully when the artist appeared among them. Cimabue 




THE alhambra; the court of lions 



347 



When Knights were Bold 

one day noticed a shepherd boy drawing on a rock a 
picture of his sheep. It was so well done that the artist 
took the boy under his protection and taught him. This 
boy became the famous Giotto. The faces that he painted 
look as "real " as those of Cimabue ; and he even painted 
portraits of living people and ventured to make them 
look like the people. It was Giotto who painted the por- 
trait of Dante which has been handed down to us. The 
backgrounds, however, of Giotto's work, like those of 
other artists of the time, were not like nature. If there 
was a landscape, the trees were thin and rigid and not 
in the least like real, growing trees. Frequently the 
background was of gold. Indeed, to the artists of the 
time there could hardly be too much gold in a picture. 
To-day if an artist introduces a crown or a pair of gilded 
spurs, for instance, he tries to produce the effect of gold 
by the skillful use of lights and shadows; but the artist 
of mediaeval times simply embossed real gold on the 
picture. This would hardly be called artistic, but it 
made a design brilliant and rich, a splendid piece of 
decoration. 

Another famous painter was the monk Fra Angelico. 
He did not know that he was an artist, but in his leisure 
moments he covered some blank pages of a manuscript 

348 



Architecture and the Arts 

with such dainty little miniatures that his brother monks 
were delighted. "Paint a picture," they urged, and he 
painted. By and by the Pope heard what he was doing, 
and sent for him to paint one of the chapels of the Vati- 
can. It was so well done that the Pope wished to make 
him an archbishop in reward ; but the monk refused the 
honor. He felt that God had given him a gift which it 
would be wrong to neglect for the sake of a high posi- 
tion, and he went back to his little cell to paint. He 
painted many diptychs and triptychs, or two-fold and 
three-fold tablets. These were often used as orna- 
ments for the altar. The triptych especially was quite 
elaborate. It was a wooden panel often carved quaintly 
in Gothic designs, and shut in by two little doors. On 
the outside of the doors the artist painted pictures, fre- 
quently the portraits of the donor and his wife. On the 
inside there were pictures of saints or scenes from the 
Bible. The background of the figures is usually gold, 
still bright and gleaming after all the hundreds of years. 
Hawthorne says that if Fra Angelico's imagination had 
not been pure and holy, he could never have painted 
such saints, and that he must have said a prayer between 
every two touches of his brush. 

The painting that was done on manuscripts was called 

349 



When Knights were Bold 

illuminating. At the beginning of the Middle Ages the 
parchment was sometimes dyed purple, and the whole 
book written in letters of gold or silver almost as regu- 
lar as print. Of course such books as these were enor- 
mously expensive. In the thirteenth century, a finely 
written Bible was sold for enough to pay a workman's 
wages for twenty-six years. Of course not many books 
were as expensive as this, but they were all very costly. 
Most volumes were decorated, even those that cost no 
more than a house or two. The margin of the frontis- 
piece was generally painted, and there were often borders 
to the pages and most elaborate initials, sometimes en- 
twined with flowers and vines and sometimes showing 
pictures of saints or even of whole Bible scenes. No one 
thought of trying to find out how people dressed in Bible 
times, and therefore the illuminators simply copied the 
dress of their own day. Artistically, this was not very 
correct; but it is a great help in learning about the cos- 
tumes of the Middle Ages. The reds and blues and 
greens in these illuminations are as fresh and bright as 
ever, and the gold looks as if it had been put on only an 
hour ago. Much expense went into the binding. The 
covers were sometimes of wood and sometimes of 
leather. They were ornamented with gold and silver 



Architecture and the Arts 

filigree work at the corners, or with heavy knobs of the 
precious metals. Often they were set with jewels. Some- 
times the covers were of ivory, most delicately carved. 
If a man was fortunate enough to own a book, he was 
exceedingly careful to whom he gave the privilege of 
opening its clasps. As to lending it, that was not done 
as a matter of friendship by any means. The borrower 
must give ample security that he would return it unin- 
jured. Even kings were not excepted. When Louis XI, 
king of France, wished to borrow of the faculty of 
medicine of the university of Paris the works of a cer- 
tain Arabian physician, he was not only obliged to give 
valuable security, but he had to obtain a wealthy en- 
dorser just as if he were an ordinary man, and not the 
ruler of the land. 

As the style of church building changed, the fashion of 
decorating churches changed also. The Gothic churches 
had many windows and few flat surfaces, and so they 
afforded little space for painting on the walls. But the 
windows were fine and lofty; and here was the best op- 
portunity in the world for colored glass. Throughout 
the Middle Ages, the common way of making these 
windows was to prepare glass of the various colors 
needed, and then cut it into the shape of the object. If 

35^ 



When Knights were Bold 

a figure wore a red cloak, for instance, it was first 
sketched, then the red glass was cut into the shape of 
the cloak as it appeared in the picture, and this was 
fastened to the other pieces by a narrow strip of lead, 
so that the lead traced all the outlines of the picture. The 
shading and those parts of the design which were too 
small to be shown by separate bits of glass were painted 
with dark brown. The colors are sometimes brilliant 
and glowing, sometimes rich and dark. 

Enamel was much used, with its soft gleam rather 
than with the flashing, glowing beauty of stained glass. 
To represent a figure in enamel work, the artist cut 
down into a plate of copper, leaving the outline of the 
figure of the full depth. Then into the shallow depres- 
sions of the figure he put a glassy substance in whatever 
color was needed and melted it in a furnace until it 
flowed and filled the whole depression. Then he polished 
the plate, and it was done. Later, artists used to make 
the whole figure in copper, finishing it with delicate 
lines of engraving, and using enamel for the background. 
Hanging lamps, altars, chalices, crosses, bells, and mon- 
strances, and many articles of jewelry, such as clasps, 
chains, necklaces and bracelets were adorned with 
enamel. 






'^^^' Pi %iiM 







COLOGNE CATHEDRAL 



353 



When Knights were Bold 

A vast amount of sculpture was used in the churches. 
In the Gothic architecture, especially in France, statues 
were everywhere. Including has reliefs and scenes por- 
trayed on the windows, the cathedral at Chartres is said 
to contain ten thousand figures. Besides the statues which 
were a part of the church and were used expressly to 
adorn it, there were recumbent memorial statues for 
tombs, which were at first stiff and unreal, but which 
came to represent with considerable truth the persons in 
whose honor they were made. In some places it was the 
custom to model statues in wood or wax as true to the 
original as possible and lay them upon the biers of 
wealthy people at their funerals. Little statuettes were 
often made in wood or ivory for ornaments. Reli- 
quaries were frequently made in the shape of some saint 
with a tiny tabernacle to hold a relic. The whole tusk 
of the elephant was sometimes used in a carving, and 
the carvers made their figures lean back in a peculiar 
fashion to accommodate the curve of the tusk. People 
were very fond of has reliefs. The tympanum, that is, 
the space between the top of the door and the angle of 
the roof, was often carved in relief to represent a whole 
story. On the capitals, or heads of the columns, and on 
the friezes men and animals were sculptured. Diptychs 

354 



Architecture and the Arts 

and triptychs were made of ivory with minute carvings 
representing scenes in the life of Christ or of the Evan- 
geHsts. This carving was sometimes picked out with 
color or with gilding. 

In point of naturalness there was a vast difference be- 
tween the Romanesque art and the Gothic. The Roman- 
esque made a magnificent decoration ; but it paid little 
attention to nature. The figures were wooden and un- 
natural, and the draperies stifi^ and rigid. Gothic art 
studied nature. The Gothic artists tried to make figures 
look like real persons, and to make the carved draperies 
hang as real draperies of cloth would hang. When they 
carved flowers and foliage, they studied those that were 
native to the place where the carving was to be and 
did their best to imitate them. In the Gothic cathedrals, 
this carving and painting was not wholly for beauty by 
any means. The work was done according to the orders 
of the clergy, and they never forgot that the church was 
the school of the common folk. That is why not only 
animals and plants, but scenes from the Bible and legends 
of saints were shown. There were carvings to represent 
the seasons, the arts and crafts, even stories introducing 
the virtues and vices in the form of persons. In the ear- 
lier times, in much of the Romanesque art, dragons and 

355 



When Knights were Bold 

griffins and monsters of all sorts appeared ; but now these 
were seen only as gargoyles, that is, at the end of spouts 
which carried away water from the roof gutters. 

The amount of gold and silver and jewels used in the 
churches was enormous. Not only the chalices and 
crosses and other furnishings of the altars were of gold, 
but often the altars themselves. In the church built in 
Constantinople by Constantine in the fourth century, 
there were numerous lifesize figures of silver, each weigh- 
ing from ninety to one hundred and ten pounds. A 
canopy made of polished silver is said to have weighed 
two thousand pounds. In making the porphyry font, 
three thousand pounds of silver were used, and there were 
also columns of gold and an image of a lamb of solid 
gold. Figures of the saints often had precious stones for 
eyes. This same beautiful work was carried into cups 
and spoons and salt-cellars for royal households, and into 
jewelry for those who could afford to possess it. Most 
exquisite necklaces, clasps, bracelets, and chatelaines were 
made and loaded with rubies and emeralds and pearls. 
The English were famed for their remarkable gold and 
enamel work. An especially well known bit of it is the 
"jewel" of Alfred the Great, which he lost in the ninth 
century and which was found again in the seventeenth. 



Architecture and the Arts 



In the eighth century there was in France a famous Saint 
Eloy, a monk, who produced such wonderful articles in 
gold and silver that whole monasteries became his en- 
thusiastic followers. To own a piece 
of his work was the glory of a church. 
A great amount of embroidery was 
used in the churches for curtains, altar 
cloths, and vestments. The English 
were especially famed for this work 
also. They made most handsome vest- 
ments, stiff with embroidery and flash- 
ing with gold and jewels. In Lin- 
coln Cathedral there were more than 
six hundred of such vestments, em- 
broidered on silk or velvet or rare 
Eastern materials. In the thirteenth 
century, Henry III presented one of 
his bishops with a cope which was valued at nearly 
^20, a sum estimated to be worth about ;^300 to-day. 
Besides this rich embroidery, there was much tapestry. 
Tapestry is made in a loom, but it is not woven with 
a shuttle. The threads of the warp are fastened into 
place as in ordinary weaving; but instead of filling in 
the woof by throwing a shuttle across them, the tapestry 

357 




ST. ELOY 



When Knights were Bold 

maker uses a needle and works in his designs with 
threads of different colors. Tapestry was used for cur- 
tains, canopies, table-covers, hangings of walls, bench- 
covers, and often for street decorations when important 
processions were to pass. The most famous piece of 
"tapestry," the Bayeux Tapestry, is in reality not tap- 
estry at all, but embroidery. It is worked with wool 
upon a strip of brown linen nineteen inches wide and 
nearly two hundred and twelve feet long. It tells the 
story of the coming of William the Conqueror to Eng- 
land, and has pictures of his going on board ship, of his 
landing, of battles, and other scenes in his conquest, all 
worked with the needle. The pictures are rude, but they 
are clear, and they tell the story. To embroider well 
was looked upon as a great accomplishment in the time 
of William, quite proper for the fingers of a queen, 
and it is possible that William's wife, Matilda, and the 
maidens of her household worked together on this strip 
of cloth. 

In the Middle Ages, as has been said before, there 
were many kinds of musical instruments, flutes, harps, 
drums, trumpets, pipes, and many others; but the one 
best suited to church music was the organ. An organ 
was presented to Charlemagne by Constantine, emperor 

358 



Architecture and the Arts 

of the East, which was "small but mighty," for, accord- 
ing to the stories, it imitated the " roaring of the thun- 
der, the accents of the lyre, and the clang of cymbals." 
For some time many bishops and priests objected to the 
thunderous, rumbling; but organs made their way and 




AN ORGAN 



became big and magnificent. Some had pipes of silver 
and others of gold. The organists certainly needed to be 
trained athletes, for the key plates were five or six inches 
wide, and the player had to wear gloves heavily padded 
and strike the keys with the full force of his fists. 

From the splendor of the churches the people went 
out into the plain, simple life of every day. It is no won- 

359 



When Knights were Bold 

der that whenever there was anything of the nature of a 
pageant, they enjoyed it with all their might. Most of 
these pageants took place to celebrate some royal mar- 
riage or the coronation of a sovereign. One of the most 
famous occurred in France toward the end of the four- 
teenth century, when Isabella of Bavaria entered Paris to 
become the queen of the French. She left the palace of 
Saint Denis in the morning. She was in a richly orna- 
mented litter and was attended by her nobles and ladies 
in waiting. On either side of the way stood a body of 
some twelve hundred citizens of Paris, all on horseback 
and wearing handsome uniforms of crimson and green. 
A company of officers did their best to clear the way for 
the royal party, but "it seemed as if all the world had 
come thither," an old chronicler says. 

At the first gate of Saint Denis the pageants began. 
There was a representation of a starry sky, and in this 
sky were children dressed as angels, who sang as the 
queen approached. This firmament must have been a 
little confusing, for in one part was an image of the 
Virgin Mary with the Holy Child in her arms playing 
with a windmill made of a large walnut, and in another 
were the arms of France and Bavaria, somewhat entan- 
gled in the rays of an exceedingly brilliant sun. 

360 



Architecture and the Arts 

The next sight was a fountain which ran wine instead 
of water. It was decorated with fine blue cloth sprinkled 
with fleurs-de-lys. Handsomely dressed young girls stood 
around the fountain, singing most melodiously and of- 
fering wine in golden cups to all who would have 
it. Just beyond the fountain, a high stage had been 
built, and on this was represented a battle with the 
Saracens. 

Now the queen had come to the second gate, and here 
was another representation of the firmament; but this 
time two angels descended from it and, singing sweetly, 
they gently placed upon her head a crown of gold rich 
with precious stones. A second scaflfbld was curtained 
and draped with tapestry, and on it were men playing 
on organs. The whole street was covered with a canopy 
of handsome camlet and silk. At Notre Dame Bridge 
there was a canopy of crimson and green made bright 
with stars. The street leading to the church was hung 
with tapestry to the very door. The procession had 
moved so slowly that it was now late in the evening; 
but the show was not over, for from the highest tower 
of Notre Dame a rope had been let down, and by this 
rope a man descended, bearing two lighted torches and 
playing various tricks on his way. 

361 



When Knights were Bold 

At the church door the Bishop of Paris and his clergy 
met the queen and led her through the nave and the 
choir to the altar. There she knelt and prayed, and then 
she lifted the crown from her head and gave it together 
with four cloths of gold to the Church. Another and 
richer crown was at once placed upon her head; then 
with an escort bearing five hundred lighted tapers she 
was carried back to her palace. 

This was on Sunday. Monday the queen was solemnly 
anointed with the sacred oil. The king gave a grand 
banquet. He had provided several interesting devices, or 
dumb shows, but the hall was so crowded that hardly 
any one could see them, or even get anything to eat, for 
that matter, though a great plenty had been supplied. 
Tuesday there was a tournament wherein thirty knights, 
including the king, contended from three o'clock in 
the afternoon until night. Then came another splendid 
banquet, followed by dancing which lasted till sunrise. 
Wednesday and Thursday there were tilting and feasting, 
and Friday the guests made their farewells and went to 
their homes. 

In all such pageants the people saw nothing irrever- 
ent in mingling religion and amusement. When the 
little nine-year old English king, Henry VI, had been 

362 



Architecture and the Arts 

successful, by means of his generals, in his battles with 
Joan of Arc, his guardians decided that he should be 
crowned in Paris as king of the Freach; and at this cele- 
bration there was a hunting scene wherein a well-trained 
deer took refuge under the king's horse; there was a 
presentation of three large crimson hearts to indicate 
the love borne the king by his people; there was a big 
fountain of hippocras, a sort of spiced wine, wherein 
three mermaids were swimming; and there were also 
mystery plays acted in dumb show. At the coronation 
feast there were pageants of course. One was a lady with 
a peacock, another a lady with a swan, and a third was 
the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child. 

When the little royal boy returned to England, he 
was received by gentlemen of Kent in red hoods, by 
mayors and corporations, by citizens in white with the 
insignia of their trade embroidered on their sleeves, and 
by aldermen in scarlet. At London Bridge a mighty 
giant with a drawn sword stood in the way; but he 
proved to be a kindly giant, and he made a speech de- 
claring that he was ready to defy all the little king's 
enemies. Next followed a moral lecture in costume; 
for from a tower richly draped with silk there came 
forth three ladies dressed in white and gold and wear- 



When Knights were Bold 

ing coronets. They said in rhyme that they were Na- 
ture, Grace, and Fortune, and that they had come to 
bestow upon him the best of gifts. Then appeared on 
the right seven young girls in white with blue baldrics, 
and on the left seven whose dresses were powdered with 
stars of gold. The first seven declared that they bestowed 
upon him sapience, intelligence, good counsel, strength, 
cunning, pity, and the fear of God. The others repeated 
the following verses: — 

God thee endowe with crowne of glorie ; 
And with the sceptre of cleneness and pitie : 
And with a swearde of might and victorie; 
And with a mantell of prudence clad thou bee : 
A shield of faith, for to defende thee. 
An helme of health, wrought to thyne encrease, 
Girte with a girdell, of love and parfite peace. 

After this they sang a roundelay, or " an heavenly melodie 
and song." 

The next sight was a sort of tabernacle wherein sat 
Dame Sapience with her pupils — the trivium and the 
quadrivium — Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Music, Arith- 
metic, Geometry, and Astronomy. The little boy must 
have been tired when he reached "Paradise." This was 
a place made beautiful with green trees bearing oranges. 



Architecture and the Arts 

almonds, olives, pomegranates, dates, quinces, and 
peaches; and the small Henry could hardly have helped 
wishing that he was not a king, but just an everyday 
boy and could jump down and lie under the trees and 
pick the fruit which had been so skillfully fastened upon 
the branches. But there is no rest for kings, and he had 
to sit still and look interested while two elderly men 
preached a sermon to him in verse. At last the poor 
child reached his palace; and perhaps in his dreams he 
had the pleasure of forgetting that he was a sovereign. 

Such were the people and the customs in the days 
when knights were bold. It was a time of contradictions, 
an extraordinary commingling of ignorance with an in- 
tense desire to learn, of courtesy and gentleness with 
utter recklessness of human life and suffering; of mag- 
nificence of dress and luxuriance of surroundings with 
revolting filth and wearisome discomfort; of keenness 
in argument and blindness in doing justice, of readiness 
to sin with equal readiness to endure extreme penance. 
The people of the Middle Ages studied by futile 
methods, their astronomy was founded upon a mistake, 
their chemistry upon a poetical fancy. Nevertheless, 
something closely akin to the change of one metal into 
another has already become an everyday matter in our 



When Knights were Bold 

laboratories, and the dream of the alchemists may yet 
prove true in essence. 

The Middle Ages lay between the civilization of the 
ancients and that of the printing press. It was a time of 
rapid changes, of swift and mighty transitions. Human 
life was insecure, the laws and their execution were often 
bitterly unjust; and yet there must have been hundreds 
of thousands of people who lived their lives quietly and 
contentedly, perhaps thinking with pity of those who 
dwelt in the land before them and with sympathy rather 
than envy of the condition of those who would follow 
them. "When one is contented, there is no more to be 
desired ; and when there is no more to be desired, there 
is an end of it," declares the wisdom of Don Quixote. 
Possibly the good folk of the Middle Ages have after all 
no special need of our compassion. 



BD-181 



^ 

'P 






' 









O 






u>c> 









"^z ■« 

'^O^ 



c<v:^^>o 



.^■^ 



.•j^^'- 






■\ 



<;\ ■ ■ ^> 



CJ . 






r*^^ 



.1-^' 



rt)' 



.•;^^ 









« «S>- Vv &:^lfflfc--S if ^' (VV\ «K //h « *&■ Vw 






oV" 



^^-^^ 



''^^ '*' 




: "^^^^ ^^^mm"- "^"^ Treatment Date '^^9"^^"^'" Oxide I 



- ^'^c,-^ ^^^S^" ^V Treatment Date^^"^""'"°^'^e ■ 



.■^^ 



